> Perhaps Avy of the lovely anniversary poem can give some hints on that technique.
Oh god Jackie don't do this to me.. I know nothing authoritative about technique. I am still reading and learning. (The truth not modesty) To try to answer your question my brain stretches as far as the comma. I don't know whether there is more to a pause in poetry than that. My book says there is the Ceasura which is a pause roughly in the middle of a sentence.
>but could not understand a single word even after a dozen playings.
That used to happen to me when I read Urdu poetry. Some words are similar to Hindi and are easily understood but others are very difficult.
Then I realised one can also enjoy words that one has no inkling as to what it means. Partly because it doesn't mean anything - it can mean anything. And also unhampered by its meaning one can concentrate on the physicality of the word. For a while .. then you just switch it off.
