I find it difficult to convince friends – or anyone – that poetry is worth reading. But I mustn’t exaggerate. It isn’t so much that they dismiss poetry as not worth reading. It is more that in a world where time seems increasingly at a premium whatever time they have for reading – less these days than ever before – can better be spent on reading 
which keeps them up to date with what is going on, reading that instructs and educates and improves their prospects, reading relevant to their jobs, reading that entertains (if indeed there is time left after browsing the social media). And poetry fits into none of the categories. I don’t argue much. I can understand the points being made very well.
And yet I am sorry that poetry is not given much priority in people’s reading habits. I say this because poetry should not be left behind when we leave school and the curriculum set books.
Poetry so often gives us insights into life as we are experiencing it. It is why I often introduce poems into the columns I write – to illustrate what is happening in a particularly vivid way.