@Taweret I think free verse is exactly why I have problems knowing a good or bad poem (though I will say, hearing a poem read by someone who at least thinks it's a good poem helps me)

Like I felt mean when I'd say "I don't understand
this free
verse
book it feels like
they just hit enter
ran
domly"

rich people couldn't colonize poetry the way they colonized visual art because poetry can't be kept in restrictive galleries or sold exclusively to private collections

there's no scarcity to manufacture, no object to speculate on. A rich person can't buy the ONLY copy of a poem

so the colonization vector didn't work. you can't gatekeep language the way you can gatekeep a canvas in a climate controlled room. which means poetry could only rot from the inside. the MFA programs, the journals nobody reads, the poets talking to other poets in an increasingly small room

but physical art? a painting? a sculpture? a physical object in a physical space? that's perfect for wealth capture. you can restrict access. you can create artificial scarcity. the gallery system is a containment model. keep art scarce, keep prices high, keep the definition of "good" under the control of people with money