Poetry is not a lost art. Poetry is better that ever. ... there are also many brilliant practitioners of the art out there. Check the literary magazines ... . For every six crappy poems you read, you'll actually find one or two good ones. And that, believe me, is a very acceptable ratio of trash to treasure.
The short story is also not a lost art, but I would argue it is a good deal closer than poetry to the lip of the drop into extinction's pit. ...