I can blither about dating, but... Bliss was it in that dawn to be alive? and so frightening.

Apostropher is all very serious tonight. The article is incredible. I, however, am in a somewhat less serious mood, and when I saw "graffiti" immediately thought of: http://www.pompeiana.org/Resources/Ancient/Graffiti%20from%20Pompeii.htm

The article is very good.

One of the things that really struck me back when I was studying Arabic was the central role of poetry in modern Arab culture, in striking contrast to its marginality in American culture, and this article captures that well.

2:

Theophilus, don't perform oral sex on girls against the city wall like a dog

Damn, busted!

This was such a beautiful piece of writing. Thanks for sharing, apo. It's given me a lot to think about. I wish we were still a poetry-driven culture.

Thanks apo! This is great.

This seems related to the discussion of war and meaning.

Yeah, thanks for posting it. An old objection, but maybe worth mentioning: If English language poetry is extended to include music lyrics and rap, then poetry looks less marginal.

I feel like the absence of poetry from our culture is related to the quirk of our language that makes it a serious challenge, but not an insurmountable challenge, to write poetry that rhymes. In lots of languages it is trivially easy to make a poem rhyme, so it's not as important as other aspects of the word choice. We have this childish notion (based mostly on poems intended for children) that a "poem" is supposed to be something that rhymes, ergo real poems which don't rhyme are categorized as ivory-tower nonsense, along with the work of Cy Twombly in the "my kid could do that! why don't you bother to follow the rules!" category.

Hasn't rhyme gone practically out with officially serious English-language poets? I certainly notice Seth and Stallings' rhymes.

Also, I hear that poetry is important in hip-hop and that hip-hop is where popular politics is. At. Sadly, I don't hear this in Poetry.

This was true in Old English as well, where alliterative half-lines were common. I think the causality goes the other way-- if you want poetry, you find rules that work for your language, or start bending the rules to allow more rhymes. Cause sometimes you just need to hit it and quit it.

Also, bloviating; rhyme makes it much easier to remember poetry, which is useful for popular political purposes but not for academic apotheoses of awkwardness.

Hasn't rhyme gone practically out with officially serious English-language poets?

A few of us still hold to the old ways.

And make some big noise on our bold days

'Scuse me while I kiss this guy.

12: But alliteration allows for an able and eloquent discourse.

I can accept 16 as a traditional comical end to a limerick, but I can't make 15 scan at all.

CALIPH: In poems and in tales alone shall live the eternal memory of this city when I am dust and thou art dust, when all Baghdad is broken to the ground. If there shall ever arise a nation whose people have forgotten poetry or whose poets have forgotten the people, though they send their ships round Taprobane and their armies across the hills of Hindustan, though their cities be greater than Babylon of old, though they mine a league into the earth or mount to the stars on wings - what of them?

HASSAN: They will be a dark patch upon the world.

One of the things that really struck me back when I was studying Arabic...

As an erstwhile Arabist, I'd like to hear more.

There's not really much more than that. I didn't study it very intensely or for very long.