In my own experiences learning to read poetry, I had to get used to slowing myself down, and being attentive to every word. This was, and is, challenging for me.
I have a tendency to want to race through things,
to get to the point or the end . . .
But you can’t read poetry that way.
Reading poetry has the salutary effect on me of
forcing me to read, and think, at a different
pace than the rest of my life demands.
– Matthew Zapruder