In their view, those who don't buy, read or even like poetry just haven't been exposed to enough wonderful examples or taught how to appreciate it. There are no set texts but there is always a mixture of modern and traditional poets. If anything, Underhill sees a revival, with poetry competitions popping up everywhere from Hornsby to Gunnedah. The North Rocks Festival of Poetry and Art is calling on local budding poets to pen their thoughts on what it means to be an Australian in the year of the Olympics. It's just not true that people are not interested in poetry.
Many teachers love teaching it because it's self-contained.
And students love writing it. And poets who bemoan their poor sales as a sign of fading interest in poetry could write to the Board of Studies and ask to have their work included on the syllabus, she says. But Melbourne writer and university student Caroline Heske, who posts her poems on her website, suggests that schools don't necessarily promote the cause of poetry, as many teachers are uncomfortable and uncertain about poetry themselves. Young Sydney poet Danielle McLean agrees that schools kill many young people's blossoming love of poetry. I'd like to edit and publish, really, or maybe journalism.