A Pocketful of Poesy was and is again a Poem-a-Day(-on-Average) Blog! For 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, and now for 2017 and going forward, you may expect to see 365 poems every year, 366 for leap years.

but aren't they all random?

Saturday, September 26, 2020

"free verse blues"

Well, anyone can do it. In the old days
of triolets and villanelles, the readership
knew the rules and could judge them well,
and be impressed. A competent versifier
could win praise without moving anyone,
really. They could all see for themselves
how hard it is. “I couldn’t do that.”

Some people need to be impressed
by art, before they can be moved. If
it looks like something they could do
themselves, there’s uncomfortable
accusation there. Why don’t they?
Why aren’t we all poets, then? 

Free verse has no such outs. No shortcuts
to impress, to catch and wow by meticulous
use. No structure, no set forms. 

No safety net, no trapeze, no tightrope.
Takes one hell of an acrobat to please
and impress just vaulting about freely
on the ground. But some of them can
fly. 

I say there are excellent free verse poems,
as good as any rhymed. Better, maybe.
Lack of structure and forms means you
must invent your own in every poem
To captivate, transport or move
the reader
with only your chosen words
alone.


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