Jeff Burton

Brevity Jeff Burton

Brevity is the soul of wit. Brevity may also be the soul of wisdom or at least a finger that points its way. Brevity is like a dart that pierces through armour into the soft tissue and the blood. Or brevity is the sign of a lazy poet. Who knows?I started this work quite a few years ago. Its creation was by no means 'brief'. By fits and starts (my usual and preferred method), I wrote short poems in various themes and the collection you now read is the result. Abraham Lincoln was once asked how long a man's legs should be. 'Just long enough to reach the ground, ' he replied. The same principle was applied to the length of this collection. It is my conceit that these short verses need to be savoured, ruminated upon. I think of my writing as only half the task. It is for the reader to take these small stones and polish them, by considering the words and examining any thoughts and feelings that might arise. The poems are a little like seeds in this way. They are dead things upon the page, but they can take root and grow in the imagination of the reader. There is no trickery or great art to this on my part. These seeds fell from somewhere into my imagination and I have tried to reproduce them with as little fuss or artifice as I could. Who knows where they will land and what will be their fruit in turn