On George Herbert's "Easter Wings"

I always thought of concrete poetry as something that was silly and fun, but not overly meaningful or serious. This is probably because my only experience with concrete poetry prior to this year was in middle school. However, in George Herbert's poem "Easter Wings," I was amazed at not only the complexity of the words themselves, but at the complexity that the shape the words take infers. Firstly, that the image of the wings flying side by side--Christ and the narrator--acts out exactly what the poem says, and secondly, the way that the middles of the wings not only emphasize certain words but specific phrases, and that the middles of both of the poem's wings mark a place where a change happens. Not only that, but Herbert was a genius: what better way to capture the reader's attention than by forcing them to turn the book sideways? They can't get distracted by any other poetry that way. "Easter Wings" completely changed my views on concrete poetry.

-Kelly Johnson