Great Regulars: In style, the poem's use of stand-alone,

factual observations, with no enjambements and no logical progressions between lines, mimics some of the condition it describes; but also draws an uneasy distinction between "It"--the condition, implacable and alien--and "him", the frightened and struggling boy, negotiating as best he can between his own limits and those of his family. Despite the dispassionate veneer--appropriate to his son's more machine-like moments--[Les] Murray delivers a powerful poem of humour, sadness, love and, surely, admiration.

It Allows a Portrait in Line Scan at Fifteen

from The Times Literary Supplement: Poem of the Week: It Allows a Portrait in Line Scan at Fifteen by Les Murray

~~~~~~~~~~~