[R. Nemo Hill]

I think the unorthodox construction of the first two lines are what makes the poem work. It places the reader in a certain paradoxical relation to time, and lifts by means of that temporal riddle what might otherwise be too simple a poem. It is the hook that made me want to read further, the elliptical superimposition of boy-then and boy-now whose imperfect alignment is the key to the depth of the sonnet. For me a more straightforward opening would hollow-out the poem, diminishing it considerably.

Nemo