Form and structure
The poem is written in a single unrhymed stanza of 23 lines. The phrasing continuing over successive lines just as if it was a piece of prose or an extract from a journalist's news article.
This superficial lack of poetic technique serves Morgan's documentary purpose. The apparent lack of rhyme and structure suggests an unadorned recording of events. Like a journalist, Morgan reports what he sees. He describes it with a sense of drama, like a newspaper report might but he does not show obvious emotion or judgement.
There is technique within this format:
- use of present tense gives the poem a sense of immediacy
- enjambmentWhen a sentence runs on from one line to another in a poem without punctuation at the end of the line. puts emphasis on certain words
- visual description gives detail to the image of this word photo
As the poem continues the reader's attention is drawn to different details of this snapshot until the complete image is revealed:
- in the foreground is the couple falling through the window
- in the middle-ground are the youths carrying out the robbery
- in the background are the passing drivers