Ten Years of Writing about Poetry Has Taught Me This

Poetry is the most textured form of writing. It attracts artists who weave sounds and images with mystery. They may be cranky (T. S. Eliot) or homesick (Heaney) or humorous (Billy Collins). They may believe that poetry is an instrument of investigation (Jane Hirshfield) or necessary as bread in the pockets of the hungry (Mary Oliver) or should light up the sky (Ted Kooser). They may believe that achieving clarity is a quest, not a burden (Carl Sandburg) or that poetry can unite a nation (Amanda Gorman) or should possess an electrifying undercurrent (Louise Glück). Read at your own risk.