Howl and the Power of Poetry

Just watched "Howl" and highly recommend it. James Franco is amazing as Allen Ginsberg and the film is an absolute delight. I, with a deep love of the Beats, and TheWife, who had no sense of their work or history, both just loved it.

Focusing on the trial of Ferlinghetti for publishing Howl and Other Poems, it makes you wonder whether a poem today could still have the cultural effect that Ginsberg's "Howl" did. Perhaps as lyrics to a popular song, but as a poem? Is the culture just different or could a poem still capture the society in the same way?