Poetry

Re “There’s a Time When Only Poetry Will Do,” Commentary, Aug. 26: I find no “shame” in borrowing the wisdom of Jack Miles. What honest and eloquent ideas he has given us; that our muse is the timeless gift of the poets who express with one voice the depth of our grief and the height of our hope; the elegant simplicity of our being. The poets turn our thoughts to songs that more closely resemble the rhythm of our mourning than do our own “ordinary words,” and so does Miles.

WESLEY STAPLES

Los Angeles