Review of "Mimosa" by Mary Ruefle

Mimosa by Mary Ruefle was offered by Poets.org's Poem-A-Day on May 6, 2013.  The poem is dedicated to and is, as the poet admits in her notes, a love letter to James Schuyler, and, as such, it is a deeply personal poem about deeply personal feelings and experiences.  But for the interesting description of and use as a metaphor of the century plant (pictured), this poem may have been too specific and personal for publication.  I believe that a good poem for publication is one that speaks to as wide an audience as possible--the audience for Mimosa is quite narrow.  The exception to this general rule may be the publication of the personal poems of a well-known poet, and I am not sure that Ms. Ruefle falls into that category (yet).