Kelly is an instructor of creative writing and literature. In this essay, Kelly examines ways in which the layers of verbal complexity in this poem actually diminish readers' confidence in its meaning.

Throughout her illustrious career, Salter's poetry has been lavished with recognition and awards, and rightly so. Her work offers a sense of formalism and a lightheartedness that has been missing from a great deal of poetry in the last fifty years—a time that has seen a shift in sensibilities. Academic poetry (as opposed to the kind of poetry flourishing in music and in poetry slam-type readings) has distanced itself from common readers by becoming more and more difficult to understand, or to even want to understand. Salter has always, to her credit, been accessible to readers at any level.

What she has earned for it, in addition to numerous awards, visiting professorships, and editorial...