From last night's interview:

BILL MOYERS: You went to Iran a few months ago. Tell me about that.

ROBERT BLY: Yes, they flew us to Shiraz where Hafez's grave is. So, we got up in the morning, and we went to the grave. And about 8:00 in the morning, you know, children started to come. Maybe third grade children. And they stood around the little tomb and sang a poem of Hafez's. Really charming. And then they went away, and now some fifth graders came. And they stood around the tomb and sang a poem of Hafez.

And, of course, every poem of Hafez is connected with a tune, so you teach the children the tune, and then they have the poem. So I said to myself, "Isn't that unbelievable? And why don't we do that? Why don't we go to the grave of Walt Whitman and have children come there?" Do you understand what it is--

BILL MOYERS: I do. I don't have an answer. Why don't we?

ROBERT BLY: Because we don't love-- we don't bring Walt Whitman and love him in the way that the Iranians bring in their poets and love them. So, that'd be great if children could go to Walt Whitman's grave and recite little poems.

BILL MOYERS: What do you think it would mean if we went to the graves of our poets?

ROBERT BLY: You'd bring the poets into the heart, instead of having them in your head in graduate school. And that's what you do with children. You bring children in, and they get associated with the heart when they're very small, and then they can feel it all through their lives.

Wow!

Source

Cher

I hate to be cynical about our society--but we have in so many ways---lost our human hearts--not of course our physical ones--but our spiritual heart--they drum such things out of you in school since its about making good scores on performance tests and such----and making us good little worker bees---whether we toil in a factory or in a modern, climate controlled office in our little cubicles---

It takes us years to find our hearts again--we have to do it on our own, since even college. for the most part is just so goal oriented---
gimmee that damn degree ASAP with the best possible GPA and the least possible extraneous things beyond my area of interest" is the mantra of so many college students--but then who can blame them---so many come out of school massively in debt owing student loans----

I always loved the film "The Civil War" by Ken Burns on PBS for many reasons, but one of the most profound things about that documentary series was the way they included the writings of not only the elite---but the average person--and there was such wonderful, literate writing---all from folks who had little if any formal edcuation such as we have today---most kids today---most adults today for that mater--could not write as well as those folks did back a century and a half ago.

It would be great if we had a love and appreciation for something like poetry (and art and music and philosophy, etc) instilled in us from an early age--but there is not time or place for such it seems, in this post-modern, post 9/11 world....