kinds of containers

A poem to me is a container whether it be benign like a water pitcher or dangerous like a pipe bomb.

content and container

Weigh and measure your content, then find or mold the container.

idea dominant

An idea too big for a poem.

uncontainable

There is no form equal to this content, it must be allowed to spill without container or spout.

triumph of content

The container never greater than what’s contained: If you think form over content, your poem will fail.

metaphor go ahead

Our metaphors go on ahead of us, they know before we do. And thank goodness for that, for if I were dependent on other ways of coming to knowledge I think I'd be a very slow study. I need something to serve as a container for emotion and idea, a vessel that can hold what's too slippery or charged or difficult to touch.

—Mark Doty, “Souls on Ice”