Academy Avowal: "Refrigerator Poetry Helpful For ‘Creatively Challenged’"

The Poetry and Literary Arts Division of Unfettered Letters (which recently moved out of the broom closet into an office with windows – congratulations, guys!) reports that the prestigious Academy of American Poets is weighing in on the enduring value of refrigerator poetry. "It really serves an important function for a certain segment of society," an anonymous source within the Academy tells us. "For people who have absolutely no creative side whatsoever, it can be a crucial outlet. These people are among the most underserved groups of citizens. And they are so often stereotyped – you know, you’ve heard the prejudices – they all read John Grisham and books like The Tipping Point, love Tim Allen movies, do paint-by-numbers, go to business school. But we must remember they have needs to express themselves, and so often refrigerator magnet poetry is one of the only tools they have. Children have coloring books, adults have this."

The source looks down at her feet sadly. "But there is a dark side. Often these same people, while finding fulfillment with magnet poetry, live in a world of delusion and denial. They sometimes fall under the impression that what they have produced on the front of their refrigerator, just above the handle for the icemaker, has real artistic merit. They may say to a family member or spouse, "look what I did," or "look what I was able to do," or "I didn’t even know what I was doing, but can you believe what I came up with?" So as you can see, these unfortunates live under a dark cloud." But she continues, "on the whole, however, magnet poetry is a positive force. It is a crucial resource for the severly unimaginative – and by now we all know the "creatively challenged" should not be discriminated against, as with any other group suffering a disability."

Posted by The Unfettered Editorial Staff on 6:03 pm Filed under Academy Avowel, All The Latest. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry