Poetry Dirge

How many times have I heard poets reading their own poems sound as if they are giving a sermon at a funeral: the dirge-like quality of their performance incurs, in the audience, if there is one, an almost somnambulistic feeling; you hear someone murmer "Mmm," or a thoughtful "Mmm yes, er..."
Jule Styne said something potent about the writing of lyrics that, I feel, could apply to the work of many contemporary poets: "Too many writers write self-pity". Where are the light-hearted lyricists of old, the gutsy story-tellers, the rhymers?
Rhyming now is, it seems, infra dig. One editor of a small magazine (and I'm not surprised it's small) said she welcomes poetry sent to her as long it didn't rhyme.
People like to hear rhymes, especially in humourous poems. Maybe it's another reason for the nails in the coffin of modern poetry: it's out of touch (like Parliament!) with ordinary people.