As reported by Harper’s Magazine, Charles Bernstein has proposed a poetry bailout, geared to restore the confidence of poetry readers. Bernstein said the following in a prepared statement:
As you know, the glut of illiquid, insolvent, and troubled poems is clogging the literary arteries of the West. These debt-ridden poems threaten to infect other areas of the literary sector and ultimately to topple our culture industry.
Cultural leaders have come together to announce a massive poetry buyout: leveraged and unsecured poems, poetry derivatives, delinquent poems, and subprime poems will be removed from circulation in the biggest poetry bailout since the Victorian era. We believe the plan is a comprehensive approach to relieving the stresses on our literary institutions and markets.
Let there be no mistake: the fundamentals of our poetry are sound. The problem is not poetry but poems.
…
As we know, lax composition practices since the advent of modernism led to irresponsible poets and irresponsible readers. Simply put, too many poets composed works they could not justify. We are seeing the impact on poetry, with a massive loss of confidence on the part of readers.
Whatever happens with the financial markets, let’s not let this warning go unheeded.
Thanks to John H at Confessing Evangelical for bringing this to our attention.
Good point. Maybe I’ll invest in the Hubble instead. I hear that’s up for a bailout too.
Who was approving low-interest subprime poems? (Other than Garrison Keilor.)
Finally, some sense in the world. Now I should be able to unload a bunch of my poems nobody else wants.