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There's never been a culture without poetry in the history of the world.

I don't think the creative writing industry has helped American poetry.

For most Americans, poetry plays no role in their everyday lives. But also for most Americans, contemporary painting or jazz or sculpture play no role either. I'm not saying poetry is singled out as a special thing to ignore.

The American public does not know poets exist.

Poetry is not mainstream, but then neither is serious fiction, really. But I don't think there's a lot to worry about in this particular 'problem'. Why does art have to be mainstream to be significant?

Americans have been tremendously fortunate in poetry, regarding both the quantity and quality of poetry produced. Unfortunately, it remains in schools and universities; it is not widely distributed.

I think there's no excuse for the American poetry reader not knowing a good deal about what is going on in the rest of the world.

It's a sad fact about our culture that a poet can earn much more money writing or talking about his art than he can by practicing it.

From reading a previous answer, you know that I consider all those aspects to be part of American cultural myth and thus they figure into good American poetry, whether the poet is aware of what he is doing or not.