39. Yusef Komunyakaa, "Ignis fatuus"

We established last year the Yusef has execrable taste in poetry. And yet he is a very good poet. "A swampy / glow haloes the Spanish moss, / & there's a swaying at the edge / like a child's memory of abuse / growing flesh, living on what / a screech owl recalls." Concrete images, a communicative urgency. I would tell him to change the word "abuse" here; it strikes a false note, too generic. If you're going to be specific about moss and owl species, why use a generic, Oprah-like word for psychic trauma? 8.