Great Regulars: [Penelope] Shuttle has written that

"it is the way the poem breathes that gives it form," and the silence between breaths is carefully built into her syntax. There are repetitions, but no rhymes, commas, but no full stops. In fact, this is the kind of poem whose precise cadences would allow it to work without any punctuation at all.

Finally, the qualifier in "only a poet" has a more defiant air. The voice that says "I can do this, / although I am only a poet," quietly argues back from the cultural margins, insisting that, through images and stories, the poet's work can "save lives" and even change the past.

Bread

from Carol Rumens: The Guardian: Books blog: Poem of the week: Bread by Penelope Shuttle

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