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> Kant even defined art as that which doesn't evoke desire. 

Kant keeps coming up - I wish I had the brain power to take on reading him.

> Hatred for pleasant feelings is as much a problem as the
> desire for them.

Theoretically. But not practically in our time and place I think. Fear of pain is more relevant. But that is to take the discussion in a totally different direction. Although I suppose as a hick I am suspicious about the things that people claim for poetry. Not that I hate it, just that I find the credulous rhapsodising a bit unlikely. People who talk about the wonders of poetry have always struck me as being in the same league as the UFO abduction people (or Linux users).  ;-)

I certainly do not experience desire in relationship to the vast bulk of art that I have seen or heard, but somehow I suspect that this is nothing to do with the Kantian definition of art! 

Best wishes
Jayarava