What You See Is What You Get

by David Budbill

     Thoughts never twisty.
     Confucius, The Analects

Grace Paley said once,
in a hand written note to me,

We write big, David, because
we want to be understood.

With me, what you see is what
you get.  There’s no mystery here.

These lines mean what they say.
They don’t mean something else.

This is not great poetry because
it’s easy to understand: no hidden

meanings here, no obtuse allusions,
difficult syntax, nothing to decipher

or explain.  As one critic said, Budbill
is plain as a pair of Levis, accessible

as a parking lot.