[Poem & Analysis] Adventures in Irreducible Units #1

My partner, who is a non-native English speaker, suggested I try approaching my poems with more accessible language.

One of the (many) criticisms I received when I was working on my MFA in grad school was that the language I used was too difficult.

It was trying to do too many things and, as a result, became “impenetrable,” as one professor put it. (I remember clearly that his hands were on his head when he said this.)

My partner’s suggestion was that I write with ESL speakers in mind and that that would help guide my choices, resulting in stronger imagery and, therefore, stronger poems.

I decided to give it a try.

I was reminded of a poem I studied in my undergraduate writing program: Der Panther: Im Jardin des Plantes, Paris by Rainer Maria Rilke.

The language in Rilke’s masterpiece (below) is simple.

However, the image it describes is profound.

I remember learning that Hemingway, too, was the master of leveraging the simplicity of common, irreducible words to power the impact of a scene.