As a grammar nerd I have to comment: The hortatory “let” allows you and me to influence the behavior of a third person (Let him go fly a kite!), or a third person that of a fourth (Mary Ann said, “Let them eat Twinkies!). It’s a way to wax imperative vis-à-vis someone not a party to the conversation. The Bible has used it: Let them circumcise the foreskins of their hearts! The president has used it: Let them gerrymander Texas!
As a poetry reader I have to give the floor to Linda Gregg. She pushed letting until the predicate just flew away. It’s hymnodian. I can’t get over how good it feels, well it reads.
[…]
Let birds, let birds.
Let leaf be passion.
Let jaw, let teeth, let tongue be
between us. Let joy.
Let entering. Let rage and calm join.
Let quail come.
Let winter impress you. Let spring.
Allow the lost ocean to wake in you.
Let the mare in the field
in the summer morning mist
make you whinny. Make you come
to the fence and whinny. Let birds.
(Linda Gregg, from “Let Birds,” Poetry, April 2026)
(c) 2026 JMN — EthicalDative. All rights reserved
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