Why isn’t poetry of all kinds the premier medium of entertainment and criticism in this country? The answer is simple. It isn’t being properly promoted. It doesn’t have its own “American Idol,” “Voice,” “So You Think You Can Dance” kind of exposure. It should.

The format here has already been well mapped. You start with a panel of judges sitting in some over-the-top studio setting backed by an audience of enthusiastic poetry lovers, or maybe even just generic enthusiasts who like to scream and clap and groan a lot.

The panel itself would likely consist of a snarky Englishman or this show’s equivalent, a flagrantly know-it-all older white male English professor from a major university. Other panelists might include a slick-talking black rapper, a mousy looking librarian lady who erupts like a tigress in defense of contestants she feels are getting inappropriately dissed by the snarky prof, and a young anorexic woman who smolders with anger and strong hints of other things as well.

No need to invent these people. Their prototypes have long been on display.

Finding contestants? No problem. Show-sponsored slams around the country along with walk-ins. A few from both sources will be mercilessly treated by some on the panel because…well, let’s face it. TV watchers these days demand that losers of any kind — too fat, not quick enough to dodge a swinging rubber bat, too queasy about eating spiked caterpillars — be punished in some way. The contestants who pass each panel, audience, or call-in approval test, meanwhile, must be willing to jump up and down with arms waving wildly, weep hysterically, hug everyone within reach. No problem there either.

Each week some poets would fall away until there are only two or three left. A Grand Slam-Off, which may well by then have migrated from cable to a major network, would be watched by millions of viewers not only because of what they expect to see and hear, but because really big bucks are at stake. Some cultural foundation or poetry-loving billionaire would almost certainly have put up a million dollar grand prize to promote poetry.

Would there be some protests from traditionalists, from Percy Dovetonsil types who feel “America’s Next Great Poet — The TV Show” vulgarizes their precious poetry medium? Sure. But as Joyce Kilmer almost once said: “Poems are made by fools like me/’Cause only fools would work for free.”

Good poets deserve big bucks as well as a lot more recognition. “America’s Next Great Poet — The TV Show” would get them both. It also might get a lot more of this country’s greatest talent a lot more involved its one of our great national art forms.

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