Lingering memories

Most of the poems featured in this column are within the standard competition length of forty lines, and many considerably shorter. A longer poem, however, gives the opportunity to expand on the theme, while the dynamics of poetry mean that any expanded version will still have the poem’s intensity while allowing the reader a little more latitude to appreciate its contents.

At just over fifty lines, The Visit, by Shirley Anne Cook of Denham, Buckinghamshire, packs in atmosphere, action and reflection within enough length to give the reader breathing space, while never losing its poetic quality.

This is an autobiographical or memoir poem, a form that the poet studied on a short or John Betjeman’s to see just how effectively poetry puts the message across.