Tom once told me
a poem had to capture
his attention
in the first four lines.
Or perhaps it wasn’t four.
Perhaps it was within
the first twenty words.
Or perhaps I can’t remember
precisely what he said
and am wilfully recreating
the memory.
But I am sure he spoke
about our shared expectation
that poetry (Poetry),
that finest form of writing,
should do something
dynamic early on.
From What goes wrong with poems. By Angi Holden.
Verbatim Poetry 