Hart, a former college professor, is a freelance writer and copyeditor. In this essay, she examines possible reasons why McGinley's poetry is considered light verse even when the subject of her poetry is very serious, such as in the case of the poem "The Conquerors."

Although she may not have been either the first nor the last person to define her writing as light poetry, McGinley was, nonetheless, among those who agreed with this tag, although she did have some reservations. In her essay, "The Light Side of the Moon," she writes that "conscious techniques . . . are important to poetry and particularly vital to that narrow branch of the profession in which I specialize. I write what is called Light Verse (as opposed, perhaps, to Ponderous Verse)." McGinley is making three points with this statement. She is acknowledging that her poetry has been relegated by her critics to...