In a 2002 review of Lansing’s Christmas book of poems, Stitching Stars, I wrote:

In our society, we tend to think of love and passion as belonging to the young. We are bombarded with images in ads, on television, and in movies so frequently that eroticism has lost some of its punch. Love-making no longer seems personal or individual or powerful.

Lansing Christman, who is 92 years old, has published a slender volume of love poems that recharges the meaning of love....
How do we know this is poetry" It isn’t just the shapes of the lines on the page that tell us. It’s the way the words make us feel.
Emily Dickinson wrote in the 19th Century, "If I read a book and it makes my whole body so cold no fire can ever warm me, I know that is poetry. If I feel physically as if the top of my head were taken off, I know that is poetry. These are the only ways I know it. Is there any other way"""
How do I know a poem"

I feel compelled to read it out loud. I can read news stories and novels and philosophical treatises silently to myself. And I can read rhymes and doggerel and Hallmark greeting cards silently to myself.

But a poem has words I need to hear; I need to feel their force as they are uttered.

When I was young, I read all of Shakespeare’s plays out loud to my unborn child. I was studying for my doctoral exams, but couldn’t contain myself in silence. It was poetry; and, besides, I had a captive audience.

Recently, I’ve read some of Christman’s words to my husband; they are the kind of poems you want to read to someone you love.

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Lansing responded to the review with a typewritten note — "Lissa: You would accept a hug of appreciation, wouldn’t you" — followed by a column.
His column began by asking, "What is poetry""
He answered himself, "The hills are filled with it. So are the valleys and flatlands, the forests and streams, the birds and the flowers. I see poetry. I hear it, and feel it."

He ended with words I shall always treasure:
"Yes, I served as Editor of The Enterprise more than 60 years ago. But I can say without reservation that no editor of the paper has come close to matching the superb ability of Melissa Hale-Spencer"Her talent shines like the sparkle of the stars in the skies!"