The more detailed and specific a poem is, the more likely is to resonate with the reader. The more vague and general, the less a poem affects us.
Take for example:
I love my dog. He is my best friend.
I can’t imagine life without him.
Dogs bring us so much.
That’s why they touch our hearts
and live in our souls.
As opposed to:
The night mom died
you jumped up next to me—
licked my falling tears
with your textured sticky tongue
as your tail wagged back
and forth like a metronome.
Then you curled against the curve
of my body until the warmth of you
blanketed us until morning.
In the first example, the poet is telling us how we feel about dogs. The poem lies flat. The second example lets us feel a dog’s presence and draw our own conclusions.
