Words are the bricks in our buildings.
Yes, we can use them to build a wall between us and our readers, or we can use them to construct edifices for them to explore. It's up to us.
What's great about English, in particular, is the richness of its many nuances. We have denotation, connotation, historic definitions, associated or applied definitions, plus various "senses" depending on context. And various usages, depending on the application of those "senses."
Wow! Sounds pretty complex when you think about it.
Usually, these things are intuitive to most users of the language. We poets join the linguists in consciously thinking about them, but we have different aims in so doing.
Expression is what we do, but it doesn't hurt to have a little background in the architecture of language before we begin to express ourselves.
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