The longest poem in Short and Sweet is thirteen lines and the shortest has no lines at all. Arranged as a kind of countdown, the anthology illustrates how the short poem can tell a story, capture an instance, present a complex argument and be packed with as much passion, wisdom and music as we might desire from a piece of writing. In his characteristically quick-witted introduction, 'Precious Little', Simon Armitage contemplates how poets over several centuries have practised brevity in their work.