Poetry Response #10

the lesson of the falling leaves

Lucille Clifton

Simple poems can speak so much truth. Many poets try to teach life lessons or convey natural truths from simple and mundane acts of nature. The casual act of a leaf falling can have a deeper meaning than what meets the eye, and Clifton explores a step-by-step path of what can be learned from the mundane falling of leaves from a tree. An interesting thing to note about the poem is the lack of capitalization. This adds a minimalist effect to the poem and forces the reader to look for more with the words, and within the poem is a sort of cause and effect path of x is y is z Therefore the simple tasks that is x can be the complex truth that is z. Within z lies the true meaning of the poem in a sort of cycle, and he repetition of the word such indicates the cycle. Clifton is stating the letting go is love which is faith which is grace which is God. Within this repetition hides the true meaning in her poem. Letting go of something important is often painful and hard to do. However the leaves ability to let go shows the tree their love. The common saying If you love something, let it go applies perfectly here. Also by encouraging love faith is also shown. The faith reassures the object being let go that the experience will not be so painful and life moves on. The ability to show faith is grace, and in a number theologies the grace of God is redeeming. Perhaps the leaves will be redeemed or the painful separation is redeeming, regardless the message shows that letting go is never a permanent issue; it eventually shifts into something greater than we can realize.