Image courtesy of Tina Phillips / Freedigitalphotos.net

Add another name to the long list of poets I’m embarrassed not to know more about: Kay Ryan. The former poet laureate is one of the most decorated living poets, having won the Guggenheim, the MacArthur, the Ruth Lilly Prize, and the Pulitzer. I feel like quite a Philistine.

Ms. Ryan is apparently known (to others) for her short lines and intellectual precision, both of which I found in her poem “Thin.” You can read the poem, which, refreshingly, has nothing to do with the latest diet craze, here.