Poetry: Dead or Alive?

I've been "working" on my "dissertation" today and yesterday and the day before that and, basically, for my whole freaking life. [Sorry, the total futility of it just spun me round (right round, like a record, baby, right round round round . . .).]

Anyway! I just (re) read Dana Gioia's uneven yet touched-a-nerve-until-we-jumped-up-screaming essay "Can Poetry Matter?" I'm asking myself about the general health of poetry, especially not as practiced/read by college professors or creative writing students. Can the readers of the megastore please help me by passing along any anecdotal information they may brew up?

Also, if you have actual social scientific data, we'd take that at the megastore, as well. We'd pay for it, in fact.

New purchases at the megastore: Frank Lentriccia's The Edge of the Night: a Confession ($0.88, plus shipping)