Great Regulars: "What happens to us when

you go away goes something/Like what happens to shoes in a dead man's closet." Those left behind when the loved love leaves feel as if they were a pair of shoes belonging to a dead man, who left the shoes behind never to return.

Instead of leaving that image alone to create its magic, the speaker feels to need to explain the use of the image: "Things inert without breath or breeze to stir them." The unnecessary explanation violates the first rule of great, or even good, poetry. If the image itself is not strong enough to convey the feeling, explaining will not help it--better to choose another image.

from Linda Sue Grimes: Suite101.com: Dara Wier's Something for You Because You Have Been Gone

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