Poetry's Progress

(Picture Credit - Macmyth)

 

Iambic pentameters are quite old

As poetry fashions go now, I must say.

Tetrameters are sharper, yes,

But both are old I must confess.

Make any speech, with force, you’ll surely find

Iambic rhythms: the power of pulse.

Such things are found in common speech for sure.

And lines of ten syllables must endure.

Poetic structures set in stone are not

My way: variety is key I have

To say. Some use of rhyme is okay too.

So how you write, that’s up to you (my friend).

For I prefer to write free verse,

To steer away from doggerel’s curse.

Longer lines are languid, with gravitas.

Short ones clout,

It’s as simple as that.

Paul Butters

(Retitled with stanza added 24\6\16).