Line breaks and spacing are crucial to this poem. Several online sources ruin these by printing the poem as two lines: "The reeds give way to the wind / And give the wind away." What Ammons wrote builds in suspense, a small wind, and a fine surprise:
Line breaks and spacing are crucial to this poem. Several online sources ruin these by printing the poem as two lines: "The reeds give way to the wind / And give the wind away."
What Ammons wrote builds in suspense, a small wind, and a fine surprise:
The reeds give
way to the
wind and give
the wind away.