How does a poem work? It works with the reader. The reader and the poem complement each other. Like a man and a woman, they complete each other. The poem hints, suggests, implies--while the reader takes the hint, fills the suggestion with her own real experience, turns an implication into an open emotion and brings to life what had only lurked on the invited page.
The poem invites the reader to uncover her own truth by telling her but a half truth, the other half of which is hers to find. That's the difficulty and the reward of poetry: it demands so much of the reader. It is not merely imparting information or knowledge. Rather, it wants the reader to fill its tiny frame with her self. But then it gives back to the reader that self, awakened and aware.
-Walt Wangerin Jr, Whole Prayer
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