I Prefer Brevity

I have been criticized because

i write in short lines instead of

iambic pentameter. There are

many reasons i choose to use

shorter lines. Perhaps my age.

My growing macular degeneration

makes longer lines blurry when i

am reading or when proof reading.

With seven or eight syllable

lines I can use a larger type for the

benefit of others with macular

degeneration and still print four

poems on one sheet of paper. When

printing sixty poems for the people

who ask for my poems I spend

more time printing and cutting them

than i do in writing and proof reading.

I will admit that my short and

rhyming lines make them childlike

and jingly. Most of the people who

read my poems are in their second

childhood as i am. I have noticed

that i get a better response when i

make them brief and simple.

Walt Abbott 920-2011