Selecting a Reader

“Holes” by Eileen Myles (1991)

As with “Selecting a Reader,” Eileen Myles’s poem “Holes” articulates an imperfect idea of beauty. In the poem, Myles feels she “looked just beautiful” (Line 4) in the 1970s when her shirts and sweaters were full of holes. Myles’s poem also touches on the pleasure of looking and the presence of desire. The diction is simple and direct and aligns with Kooser’s belief that poems can be straightforward in tone and diction.

“At the Cancer Clinic” by Ted Kooser (2004)

In “At the Cancer Clinic,” Kooser deals again with themes of looking and watching women. This time, the speaker — again, presumably Kooser himself, as he lived with head and neck cancer — observes a sick woman helped along by her two sisters. The poem features many of the elements of “Selecting a Reader.” The diction is simple, the images are precise, and the form is tidy. In this poem, published in the Pulitzer Prize-winning Delights and Shadows, Kooser shows that watching can involve the act of looking with care, concern, and empathy.

“Introduction to Poetry” by Billy Collins (1988)

In this poem by American poet Billy Collins, the speaker explores the meaning of poetry and the ways in which a reader can attempt to parse the meaning of a poem.