Q: What is the difference between a poem and a cloud?
A: Not very much, according to the poet Mary Ruefle in this (delightful) interview, found in Music & Literature:
The clouds are written to us, as we are the only ones to receive them, we the living. And what are poems but weather reports? Is there a difference between a poem and a letter? A poem and a cloud? I used to think Yes, Yes, but now, as I age, I think that there is less and less of a difference (sorry)—it has to do with attention, I think, a little setting aside of time to pay attention to one particular thing, it could be a poem or a cloud or a letter, it could be a poem about a cloud written in the form of a letter.
