I suppose I should take a swing at these, just out of a warped sense of duty. And because Maryann did, and I don't want to leave her hanging out to dry. But please don't think of my answers as actual answers, or even positions. Any answers say more about the answerer than about the subject. And the questions themselves do the same. That said...
Does anyone in this room read any poetry other than their own or what appears on the Eratosphere workshops?
Yep. Quite a bit of it. And I try to go well beyond the realms of brits and yanks.
Is the poetry floating out of the publishing houses and clouds about navel fluff, or national politics, or the working class, or weighty existential queries and meditations?
I rather like "weighty existential queries and meditations." It's pretty much my stock in trade, alas, so I likely tend to seek those out. And discussions of aesthetics. I'm selfish that way: anything that can broaden my own work, or my own understanding. Anything else, like those categories you list, I tend to ignore, so I have no idea about their prevalence. I also like hot-wild-monkey-sex poems. Obviously. I wish I had a copy of John's anthology of Blue Verse. Can't afford it, dagnabbit.
Is contemporary work formal, or humorous, or spread out all over the page, a kind of connect-the-words?
I have no idea what this question means. I really don't make any distinction between formal or informal, structured or free. There are good people doing good work in all genres: we're lucky that way these days. And there are hacks and poseurs doing things in all genres as well. The distinctions we know so well are pointless, and the persecution complex so many formal poets suffer from hurts only themselves. We need to move forward.
Does it arrive from a publishing house or self-published on a cloud?
Actually, most new work arrives from the same source it has for decades: little magazines and small independent publishing houses. Anyone looking to the big five for innovation should probably look elsewhere.
Are poets channeling the old masters or assembling structures from refrigerator magnets?
Another false dichotomy. Do I learn stuff from Ovid and Martial and Attar and Du Fu? Of course. Do I get just as fascinated by twists of contemporary language? Yes, I love the music of the sensual ear.
Do poets borrow poetry at the library, or buy poetry from some source--what source?
Neither. I hate to say this, but if it's not online, I'm probably not reading it. In a choice between buying food for the boys or buying a book, the boys are going to win every time. This has cost me friends: you wouldn't believe how many messages I get from people saying "Please buy my book." I've even lost friends over it. I wish things were different, but there you are.
Do poets actively seek out new work or just routinely "like" on social media?
I'm desperate for anything new and useful. Leaves on leaves on leaves of books I've turned, and I know nothing. Finding something I can actually use is rare. There's this Mongolian poet, Mend-Ooyo Gombojav, who friended me out of the blue on facebook. I liked some of his stuff so well, I spent three hours discussing it with my lit class the next day. I love that kind of thing.
What poetry do you think gets the most reads--poetry of past or contemporary elite/recognized or the smallish poetry pal constellations?
You know what gets the most reads? The Dash. Look it up, I dare you. Then there are poets who are the equivalent of Thomas Kinkade. A few of them have been mentioned in this thread. I don't want to hurt any feelings, so I won't use their names. But if you're counting, they get way more reads than others. Not that I abhor Kinkade: I'm very, very interested in why so many people like him so much. I suspect it has something to do with
Dutton's theory of beauty. When we dismiss such things, it's to our own detriment... and to the detriment of our work. Do we really enjoy sticking our noses in the air that much?
Do aspiring poets care about anyone's poetry except their own?
I don't know any aspiring poets. I know people who are producing work, and people who aren't. Most of the latter group are like me in the woodshop: I spend a lot of time getting in my own way. We carry beliefs that hold us back, even to our detriment. There's no reason people can't be producing on a daily basis. Some people believe it would be bad to do that. That's exactly the kind of belief that holds people back, that gets in their own way. Reverdy thinks we should be like trees, making leaf after leaf after leaf. There's something to be said for that. Just ask Li Po.
Thanks,
Bill