Miller Williams in his book, Making a Poem, says that the poet is like a child. “The child senses that the dimensions of a thing are not the essence of a thing, that what something does to us is part of its essential nature, and a child describes a thing in terms of its effects.”

Listen to Beth Ann Fennelly do it here.

This — I miss. Beth Ann Fennelly is my favorite contemporary poet. Here in mommyland, lately, I’ve had no profound thoughts of my own; but, I am finding that it is at least equally as fun to nibble on the little scraps that other poets let us have, to understand what other’s see out of the corners of their eyes.

Sometimes I hold my breath when I hear a good poem — like when someone says,”cheese!” for a picture, and I smile, not breathing, waiting for the click.