Lace 'em Up

Billy Collins.  He has left his mark on many of us. 
Interesting work. I follow easily. I like the poem, but ....
Line 2: staring or staring back at me?
Stanza 2: nice, as a discovery
Stanza 3:  though or even though?
I would like to look at the poem you are looking at. The poem does not share the name of the poem.

Last stanza: I like the middle line.  Especially from a runner.   


the sentence of warning:  
Lace up your shoes. 
Poetry is a virtue for the long run.


I understand that poetry helps for the long run of life.  I think most of it is goodness.  That last line seems a telling line, as I read it. The warning:  you could trip? This is long run-thinking. Details are important, and you are pointing them out? You can see how my mind is running.

Pat

This is a response to a Preface for an Intro to Poetry book.  The author suggests understanding poetry is something for everyone, but it takes great effort and experience.

There is no poem on a page in reality; I am simply painting a picture of a reader approaching a book and finding a poem on the page (the poem itself scares the reader . . . in my imagination).

Thanks for the feedback.

The last two lines of the poem are now joined by a semicolon (I know that is still cheating since it is technically two independent clauses).  I have them indented on my computer but LastFriday steals those details when I hit SEND.

Todd

Okay.  I sort of see.  I remember meeting e.e.cummings on a book page. Luckily, I had a teacher who let the poem be fun and did not explain every nook and cranny.

Have you shared this poem before? It felt familiar to me somehow.

I really liked the poem. I get scared of poetry and know a lot of people who do too. I felt as if I was the speaker, approaching a new poem and confused at why unconventional things were done. I have no criticism. It worked for me.