Unfortunately, the Era of Belles-lettres has been replaced with the Era of Tabloids, vulgarisms and tasteless confrontations. TV and radio talk shows are the major contributors to the decline of intelligent discourse. If there are no journalistic standards, then everything is permitted. Enter Matt Drudge and cheap-thrills entertainment. Poets, on the other hand, take up Nietzsche's challenge of being responsible guardians of the written word, of keeping the integrity of language alive.
Poetry offers a kind of sanctuary in the doom of our ugly, commercial world.
And just as you cannot expect to become enlightened without self-discipline and work, writing poetry for the most part requires more labor than inspiration. For instance, a poet who becomes impatient with a line that does not correspond to the vision or sound of his or her music is like a classical musician who refuses to put down the cello until it is right . It may take all night. You may lose your sleep. It may not come to you even if you lose your sleep.