Words Are the Diminution
of All Things
In 2004, Charles Wright first published
‘‘Words Are the Diminution of All Things’’
in his bookBuffalo Yoga. This volume is a
later one of his over twenty books of poetry,
starting withTheGraveoftheRightHandin
1970 and continuing through Littlefoot: A
Poem in 2007 with more expected to come.
Buffalo Yoga can be obtained through any
number of bookseller outlets.
The poem is set on an afternoon in
December, both the December on the calen-
dar and the December of the poet’s life. The
worddiminution, not a common word, means
the process of diminishing or decreasing. The
poem contains typical Wright themes about
time, darkness, and the winter of life. The
latter is described as a time when energy
and ability tend to lessen and, according to
the poem, leave the person without much
left to do, without much left to say. The
narrator is watching the sky, the weather,
and the blowing leaves and finding in them
words that will not be spoken. Particularly
for someone who has been a poet, whose
life has revolved around words, the fading
process means periods of silence. The poem
not only has typical Wright themes, but also
his distinctive style of dropped lines and his
use of the Blue Ridge landscape he can see
from his backyard.
315CHARLES PENZEL WRIGHT
2004