It must be the trapdoor of age, the
gap between short-term memory
and the supposed sage-like qualities
we’re reputed to gain as one gets on
in years.
I term it the curse of 'sagacious
brevity', an affinity for shorter verse
as an inverse of advancing age. Jesus,
please, don’t let it happen
to me!
When a thousand words was tame
writing less suggested a lack of wit.
Now it’s an effect of attention span,
say it in ten words blessed if you
want to command an interest.
Understand I’m not making waves, or
commenting out of the Kirk; I’d be a jerk
to observe poets who’ve written 1000 or
more poems are prone to fade way short
in a dash to the line.
But the real reason I gauge (and opine)
is once you’ve reached that certain age
you'll not remember what you wanted
to say beyond one line
at a given time.
© 2 May 2007, I.D. Carswell
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