Somebody said recently there are probably more people writing poetry today than there are people who read poetry. If this is true -- and from my experience it doesn't seem too far-fetched -- I think it has to do with the fact that much of the poetry we find in print these days is incomprehensible. It seems to me that much contemporary poetry is aimed at folks who like to puzzle over crossword puzzles, a dictionary in one hand and the other poised over Google. Could it be that "the enormity of the daily calamity," as Stephen Dobyns suggests, "makes so many contemporary poets write lines without meaning, or use language to hide meaning." Anyone can be taught to write a sonnet, or rondelle or villanelle or even a sestina. But none of these forms in and of themselves makes poetry. I believe poetry in whatever form it takes must come from a passionate heart and reach out to the reader. Every poet must do what he or she thinks is best, but I would like to plea for a poetry that does something more than just appeal to academia, that expresses something that has touched the poet in an important way, that will touch the reader similarly, that will open one's eyes to something one hasn't noticed or thought about before.