Poets: Don’t you wish this bit of satire were true?

This showed up in my inbox over the weekend among the news items mentioning poets or poems:

from The Onion:
“National Endowment For The Arts Funds Construction Of $1.3 Billion Poem”
Alas, it still remains the actual truth that there’s not much money in poetry, and most poets practice the art for love and not for pay—witness our article on Poets’ Work, listing the many other ways famous poets have found to support themselves financially.... But then again, perhaps “alas” is the wrong attitude—would poetry be the art we love if there were a lot of money in it? You poets who glory in writing alone, answering only to yourself and your inspiration, would you want poetry to be more like the film arts, expensive to produce, lucrative, and therefore surrounded by the pressures of investors and popularization?

Join the discussion:
To Eat, Or Not To Eat..., “What effect do economics have on art, specifically poetry? Did Wm Shakespere write for his Love of the Art? Or for hard currency to pay for his munchies?” —UTTERER
Poets’ Work / Day Jobs, “So what do you put in the ‘Occupation’ blank on your tax return?” —Poetry Guide