Why Sonnets?

Why sonnets? Why not give them villanelles,
Sestinas, all those forms the people crave?
Our poor deprived verse lovers, who will save
Their souls from formlessness, the empty shells
Of image piled on image? Nothing sells,
These days, like excess: nonets, brash and brave,
Quick quatrains, envelope rhymes, wave on wave
Of terza rima – how the bosom swells!

The crucial facet of The Sonnet Page
Is not to idiotically insist
On sonnets only, with an upraised fist
And sad accoutrements of misplaced rage
Against the age. This is like any age:
Good work survives. Bad work will not be missed.