Does Poetry Still Matter?

Short answer, yes.

From a piece on NPR...

"We all need poetry," Smith says — even hedge fund managers. "The moments in our lives that are characterized by language that has to do with necessity or the market, or just, you know, things that take us away from the big questions that we have, those are the things that I think urge us to think about what a poem can offer." Even the students who probably won't keep writing poetry can learn from poems, Smith says. "The things that a poem can teach them to see and to hear and to listen for are necessary."

One thing that isn't necessary, Smith says, is rhyme — no "moons in June" in her class. "I want them to think in a way that feels more natural and more in keeping with the lexicon in which they live," she says.