The gift of poetry

My husband, who reads a lot, recently received a book of poetry. The giver's inscription read: "I know you're not a poetry kind of guy, but I thought you might like this." (He did.)

The fact is, poetry isn't as popular as it once was. Most of the heavy readers I know favor fiction. And poetry is taught less in school than it used to be. This is a shame.

One reason for declining interest in poetry may be that much of it requires a considerable investment by the reader: a rigorous use of the imagination. Fiction, too, calls on the reader's creativity, but poetry generally condenses far more information into a single image. But it's not all opaque.