That poetry matters, that it is to imagination what air is to human lungs, that the world would be insufferably and intolerably poorer today without it, is a truth that should be so self-evident but sadly isn't. To redress this state of affairs, the world has agreed on a day, every year, to discuss and ponder the topic and phenomenon of poetry. A day of common, universal reflection is a powerful means of raising the public consciousness in a world in which only punctilious agenda-setting gets anything done, even things that pertain to the human soul and aesthetic health.
Poetry is, perhaps, one of the most private forms of cultural expression in the world today. In terms of how it is made and how it is consumed and enjoyed, the degree of privacy utilized is arguably much higher than for other art forms. There are, of course, exceptions to this general position. The Japanese have evolved the Renga, a form of poetry composed among poets with each poet in the circle contributing a line or phrase in succession until the poem is complete. There are poetry readings in Columbia and Macedonia in which stadia are filled with people listening to poetry. The rule remains, however, that poetry is generally more private than dance or sculpture or music or film or theatre.
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