Why does Poetry have such a bad rep?

When I was growing up, poetry was considered a very borderline activity. Reading and/or writing poetry was considered to be a sissy activity. At that stage I had no interest in poetry. It was not until I was in my 30's that I started to get some appreciation of poetry. I read some of the poems from the First World War, especially those of Sassoon, and was touched by their reality and grittiness. This was a different kind of poetry from the birds, bees and flowers stuff I was used to dismissing.

I began to see that poetry was a very effective way to crystallize powerful emotions. The very fact that poems tend to be shorter than prose, means that thought has to go into how you will craft the piece. THis crystallization process is what puts the punch into poetry.

Most business communication is terse and short. Business people do not appreciate flowery communications in the business situation. The goal is to communicate in a brief but succinct manner. This is a point of intersection between poetry and business.

DK