Does poetry still matter?

[Petrushka]

11. You're welcome!

I smiled when I read that "...maybe there's hope for me yet in coming to terms with art separate from the personality or political affiliation of the artist. We'll see."---because, for most of my life, I knew next to nothing about the politics, etc. of the the poets whose poems I loved. In fact, I memorized many poems without remembering who wrote them! It was the poem, not the poet, that mattered.

For that matter, does anyone really care who wrote poems such as the following by Anonymous?

Westron wind, when will thou blow?
The small rain down can rain.
Christ, if my love were in my arms,
And I in my bed again.