The question was posed in another blog: how do we know the difference between good poetry and important poetry. This is, for most Americans, a very significant question, for we have no appartus for immediately evaluating importance, which so often requires a measure of historical perspective.

In most foreign countries, this evaluation poses no great task: poetry’s greatness is assessed by the Shatner Scale.

Bad poetry is poetry that is made pleasant only when read by William Shatner.

Good poetry is poetry that does not require a Shatner reading to be pleasant to the listener, but is improved by the Shatner reading.

Important poetry is poetry that, when read by Shatner, is no more pleasant than it was without Shatner. Only a very few poems meet this criteria.

Very little in the literary world is not made better with Shatner. There have been no important poems written since Shatner began filming Boston Legal, as he has not had time to read poems since.