Is poetry now just for the freakazoid fringe?
» The poems of Jared Lee Loughner, Charles Manson, and David Koresh.
Jared Lee Loughner mugshot / CNN
It's really weird to link to these. By virtue of these poems being posted on CNN, this guy probably became the most read poet in the country for about a solid month at least. As the people at Bookslut said, "It's curious how rarely it's *good* news when poetry news starts bubbling up on CNN."
They're right. Here's a CNN piece from October on poetry and the Chilean miners. Though I guess it is good news that they survived.
Is poetry now looked at as part of the freakazoid fringe? Does anyone know a Poet Laureate? (Try Robert Pinsky, who's quoted in the above Bookslut link...unrelated to Loughner). Or last year's bestselling poetry book? Poetry seems so far from the mainstream now, but the only poets who get attention is if there is good music behind it. If Jared Lee Loughner had any more poems out of his community college class, they would rocket to the top of the poetry bestsellers.
Art is more fascinating when it's part of the deranged, I guess.
So here's some Charles Manson poetry. And a David Koresh one. Go ahead. You want to read them. More than you want to read something from here.
