It takes forever to read a book of poetry
and twice that long to read a single poem.
Poems’ words are more than vehicles for stories.
They work – or don’t – on levels and dimensions
the poet may wish but they themselves decide.
Earth Tourist
recently posted poems by alan reynolds
Earth Tourist 
Oh, so true. Even short poems can sometimes take a long time to read, and longer still to understand. I admit to often getting lost in very long poems, but there are those, like Prufrock, that beg me to stick with them.
Thanks, Elise. Yes, Prufrock rewards slow, repeated readings. And Peter Crofton Sleigh can still quote much of it.
This new theme seems a bit odd that the comments aren’t directly below the main post.