Your response to the letter titled “A Place for Poetry” [Dec. 5 Xpress] by Steven Manuel was somewhat surprising. In such an arts-based community, you do well to cover every single art that I can think of … except poetry. Poetry is not just for high schoolers or schoolchildren; poetry is universally expressive. I do believe that overlooking the huge audience you could reach with a weekly poetry section would be somewhat of an error; Steven Manuel made good points, but poetry should not be left solely to the publications dedicated to it. It should follow the times and area it is in, and I believe it is time for the area’s finest newspaper to have a poetry section.
He’s right; for those people who rely on the normal poetry publishers, the audience they reach is poets. Can’t there be some room for some touching poetry and words directed to everyone, and not solely poets? I think in general, a poetry section would be an invaluable addition, and would be worth your while.
— Aidan Lytle
Asheville
