I Am Offering this Poem

(3) Base Camp

This is a pretty straightforward poem. The language is clear and simple, the ideas are easy to follow, and, well, it's short. It only gets a little bit knotty when the speaker uses the complicated simile of a "cabin" or a "hogan" in lines 18-22. The speaker first says his beloved should keep the poem in a corner of her drawer, where it will sit like a "cabin or hogan" in the woods. And then—boom bam—the speaker imagines himself inside his very own cabin or hogan… which is also the poem. Metaphor is layered upon simile here, so it's a bit tricky. Once you have that sorted out, though, this poem is as comfy to slip into as a nice, warm pair of socks.