AMERICAN POETRY now belongs to a subculture. No longer part of the mainstream of artistic and intellectual life, it has become the specialized occupation of a relatively small and isolated group.

“Poetry leaves something out,” our columnist Elisa Gabbert says. But that’s hardly the extent of it. By Elisa Gabbert I once heard a student say poetry is language that’s “coherent enough.” I love a ...

I rarely admit to writing poetry when talking to people I’ve just met. Asked what I do for a living during a night out with my wife, I sometimes default to ‘freelance writer,’ or more often than not, ...