Poetry does seem to be getting better, more human, the clearing up of the language has something to do with it
But writing's one thing, life's another, we seem to have improved the writing a bit but life (ours and theirs) doesn't seem to be improving very much.
Maybe if we write well enough and live a little better life will improve a bit just out of shame.
Maybe the artists haven't been powerful enough, maybe the politicians, the generals, the judges, the priests, the police, the pimps, the businessmen have been too strong? I don't like that thought but when I look at our pale and precious artists, past and present, it does seem possible.
(people don't like it when I talk this way. Chinaski, get off it, they say, you're not that great. but hell, I'm not talking about being great.)
But I'm not defending my work (to you or to him)
And I don't believe in perfection, I believe in keeping the bowels loose so I've got to agree with my critics when they say I write a lot of shit.