Here's an example I wrote:
If you would like,
You may sit with me and gaze at the pond
For a while
I would not mind the company
A shorter scene freezes a moment in time, and I think this is something I'd like to explore a bit more.
Monday, May 2, 2011
Shorter
I've been wondering lately about poem length. It seems like a lot of poems that are well-received tend to have a bit of length to them; three or four stanzas, at least. But I've found that the ones that impact me more, at least when I am writing them, are shorter poems. I'm intrigued by the single moment stopped in time, left open to interpretation. I think it involves the reader a little more, and makes them try to figure out how they got where they are and where the poem is going from here.
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I've never been a fan of long poems myself. I find that I lose focus and become intimidated by longer verses. Short poems tend to use more craft, as each word and line must mean something completely. Often shorter poems look less intimidating and are easier to break up and decipher. I especially get confused when poems are broken up into different parts because I find myself wondering why it was that way instead of taking the time to focus the language itself.
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