In his essay “On Poetry and Uncertain Subjects” in the May 2018 issue of Poetry, Jack Underwood discusses uncertainty and “the empathetic negotiation of meaning between poets and readers.” No wonder I so often feel uneasy yet somehow comforted before, after, and while writing…
O at the Edges 
Falling falling falling. Thanks for pointing me to this essay.
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Will someone catch you? You’re very welcome.
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I think of the poem as a tool kit that the poet assembles and the reader uses to build meaning. Some tool kits are much more ready-to-hand than others, but it’s still just a tool kit. You’re never certain how good it will be until users test it out by completing their own meanings from their own inner worlds, about which you know nothing in advance.
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As I always say to people who ask what one of my poems means, my intention doesn’t matter. What the reader takes from the poem is all important.
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To vary the metaphor, I sometimes respond to the same question by suggesting they just lose themselves in the landscape of the poem and see what happens. When you’re wandering through an interesting landscape, you appreciate the twists and turns of beauty, the moments of exhilaration and the moments of quiet reflection, without asking what the trees or birds or flowers mean.
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Excellent!
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Thanks for this great and timely essay Robert.
I’m struggling, circling my writing as I often do when trying to find the opening again. The return. This was a really good read.
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Certainty would lead me to dull writing…
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Oh, Bob! I love this guy – since I first read his poems! But this essay – a poem in itself, I can’t thank you enough for posting it (my copy of this issue is in my new home but I am at the old one!), it’s so brilliant and true and touches me so deeply!
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The questions and uncertainty spark my writing!
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Thanks for the pointer. Yup, poetry’s beauty like visual art is in the eyes/mind of the beholder. This beholder was appalled at Underwood’s childhood game (!) but he does make a case for neither poet nor reader getting hung up on a poem’s specific “meaning” at any one encounter.
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Yeah, I was struck by that game, too. Ugh!
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Underwood’s game clearly appealed to him … maybe you just had to be there? Or maybe, like poetry, appealing is determined by the beholder …
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To each his own. I can’t imagine it ever appealing to me, no matter which part I played in it. Yes, the beholder…
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Brilliant!
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Underwood certainly is!
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