Youth Culture Influencers, or Homer, Sappho and Shakespeare?

Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem 

A poet does not matter in our time

Because s/he turns out poetry instead

Of soaps and mini-series crap—such slime

And sleaze—and stuff like rap.  So underfed

Are poets with society’s respect

That they can tread in water and not cause

A ripple.  If a person would inspect

Where poets walk on land, their useless paws

Would leave no broken blades of grass since they

Are insubstantial as a ghost who keyed

In action movie scripts or any play

Worth afternoon TV, so . . . trash indeed.

  Mae West with quips is closer to the truth

    Than all the shallows of our current youth.

~ Phillip Whidden