Sunflowers

Poetry at its best captures the reader and does not let go. No explanation is required, no translator, no learned specialist, education be damned. Of course poets hope the reader has some fluency and love of language. But no preparation should mar the experience, at least initially. That said, we return to a great poem again and again, gaining insights that might have been missed, savoring words and phrases.

A knowledge of form, meter, or poetics is for the specialist. The ideal reader is am...