Matt writes:
"to open up another discussion point, what has been everybody's experiences 
of writing poem sequences like this?"
and he goes on: "As well as the discipline that James mentions, it must 
offer an opportunity to allow poems to work off each other, but I suppose it 
carries its own risks, such as repetition. I ask because I've been working 
on a series of linked poems and prose pieces about a very obscure historical 
character, and have found it both more difficult than writing 'occasional' 
poems, but also more rewarding in many ways. I'd be interested to hear 
people's thoughts."

Hi Matt (and all else who're reading this),

I, too, find myself wanting to write poems that are in a series. I find, 
however, I'm not too disciplined in how I approach it. I don't, for 
instance, map out the issues/themes/topics I feel important to cover in the 
series, I just write one and then another - then put them in a possible 
order and start wondering about how to fill in the gaps!
I guess, because we're conditioned to read and write short poems - and the 
long poem has fallen from favour - narrative poetry, as a genre, needs 
sequences or series of poems.
I wonder, sometimes, about the attention span of readers of poetry. Perhaps 
that's why I feel happier reading a series of short, self-contained, poems 
that have subtle links, and underlying impressions that rise to the surface 
when I discover them, but I'm daunted when faced with a poem that goes on 
for pages and pages. However...
It could be that short poems are like nibbling chocolate, or eating oranges 
(for rhyming poems) or plums(from the icebox in the fridge), whereas a 
series of poems is like a 5 course meal with lots of things in each course, 
and a fine wine or two (and even with sherry before and port - or a really 
good Malt! - afterwards!).
Bob