Poetry today — and libraries Available to Purchase

Brian Hinton's article on librarian poets (“Librarians as unacknowledged legislators”, NLW March 1987) reminded us just how many librarians have been poets in our day and how many still are. Is this yet another aspect of the much publicised “poetry boom”, and how far is this “poetry boom” in fact a public relations exercise? Are more people reading, writing, buying contemporary poetry now? I shall take a look at these questions, focusing on manifestations of poetry activity today, and summing up with ways in which libraries, and especially public libraries, can gain from involvement with the “poetry boom”.