All Nonfiction
- Bullying
- Books
- Academic
- Author Interviews
- Celebrity interviews
- College Articles
- College Essays
- Educator of the Year
- Heroes
- Interviews
- Memoir
- Personal Experience
- Sports
- Travel & Culture
All Opinions
- Bullying
- Current Events / Politics
- Discrimination
- Drugs / Alcohol / Smoking
- Entertainment / Celebrities
- Environment
- Love / Relationships
- Movies / Music / TV
- Pop Culture / Trends
- School / College
- Social Issues / Civics
- Spirituality / Religion
- Sports / Hobbies
All Hot Topics
- Bullying
- Community Service
- Environment
- Health
- Letters to the Editor
- Pride & Prejudice
- What Matters
- Back
Summer Guide
- Program Links
- Program Reviews
- Back
College Guide
- College Links
- College Reviews
- College Essays
- College Articles
- Back
The Onion
I am not suited
For poems with layers
I sleep in my bed
And eat in my kitchen
I read what I can
And feel what I do
And if my poem
Is hard to understand
Perhaps go back
And read it again
Similar Articles
JOIN THE DISCUSSION
This article has 0 comments.
Some of my favourite poems are easy to understand- not because the poet is incapable or unintelligent, but because the accesibility and straight-forwardness of the writing reflects the message of the poem better than flowery words and metaphor could do. I'm not sure I've explained this very well, but therein lies the problem ha ha.
Poems such as "To Be of Use" by Marge Piercy, "From Blossoms" by Li-Young Lee, and "Thank You For Saying Thank You" by Charles Bernstein are the most important and most striking poems to me. Last night I re-read "To Be of Use" for the umpteenth time, thinking about my future and things of that sort. I've long been frustrated with myself for feeling like I had to write poems that were complex and veiled in metaphor. Reading Piercy's poem, I realized that the poems I loved were the kind that came naturally to me, or rather, the kind that I connected with. And isn't that the point of poetry anyway: connection?