Some poetic forms are frankly rubbish.
Eliciting odium from a lover of verse.
Gaining acceptance may be all you wish.
Groans of despair mingled with a curse
Slip from my lips after each poetic dish
Placed before this traditionalist perverse.
Author notes
Some poetic forms add an extra dimension to the enjoyment of a poem whilst others detract from it.
If the form is too obvious it becomes a nuisance, if it is too subtle it becomes a nonsense.
However the problem is deciding which form is which.
A contest entry
- Harrisham Rhyme by Harrisham Minhas.
525 points, ended January 27, 8 entries
• next poem in this contest, remove from contest
Comments
1 - 18 of 18
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Well I can't write in form the words are just not there...so you might say they are just not part of my make up...free fall and rhyme seems to come from me when I write...but thats ok, cause its what maks me, me...
thanks again...
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In form or not poetry can be a wonderful medium but there are too many people, like Harrisham Minhas above, who are constructing weird and wonderful meaningless rules-- calling it in a new form -- and naming it after themselves (or their pseudonym).
Poetry has enough fixed forms and a large free-for-all called 'freeform' so that was what prompted this petulant piece from me.
Your offerings may be freeform but they are poetic and worthwhile.
Jim
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HELLO!!!!!! Well as you know I LOVE rhyme and I hate it when people go on about cliche and contrived etc etc.Each to their own in this live and let live world as long as we rhymers still have a place, Ros
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Yes! Us Rhymers shouldn't be made pariahs by all these Johnny-come-lately poets who don't like the old ways.
I think a lot of people criticise rhyme and rhythm because they cannot be bothered (or are unable) to do it well themselves.
Jim
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Well, I enjoy writing in various forms. The choice of forms vary from person to person. Its challenging and enjoyable to express ourselves well within the given rules of the forms.
You have expressed your views nicely in this poem.
Thanks for your entry.
Harrisham Minhas
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I agree; sometimes I wish people wouldn't point out the form type and just let me read it unencumbered. But then I guess I would never have figured out a few of them -
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Great!
Great fun. I like any form, just as long as it is done properly and works - there is really no such thing as completely free verse - it needs to have some kind of rhythm otherwise it's just prose.
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Actually I rather like blank verse.
Rhyming too is good for you.
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Thanks for the comment I like the internal rhyme in your last line.
I agree with you (and Shakespeare) blank verse can be very good. We all have different favourites and that doesn't automatically make everything else bad.
Jim
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I like this very much and concede with it. Poets tend to be technical with their work or just show off with a lot of posh words that mean nothing.
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Thanks for those words. it seems your thoughts mirror mine.
Jim
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I wouldnae count on this winning the contest. But I agree with you 100% (see my own entry). This is a form for crossword compilers. The letters in a word have little to do with the sounds the word makes. Why not invent a form where every initial word has to begin and end with q? In fact, I'm off to do it. And I'd like 15 lines of spondaic trimeter, rhyming abccbadeffedghiihg. That should be a challenge and no mistake.
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Thanks for reading and writing Keith. I am not that bothered about winning but when I saw the contest rules I thought it a good vehicle for my views.
I like form poetry (good forms) for example a well done vilanelle (see todays OP spotlights) and I like word puzzles too but the two don't necessarily work together. Although they can in the hands of some poets.
BTW your 15 lines of spondaic trimeter, rhyming abccbadeffedghiihg would need 18 lines
Jim -
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You're right. Counting was never my strong point.
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I didn't realize I felt the same way until I read your words here, lol. But, you are exactly right. ON top of that you were able to put it successfully in poetic verse-well done! best wishes in the contest!
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Thanks for reading and writing Vickie.
Form poetry can work fantastically well or it can be a monstrosity. As with free verse it is not the structure it is the poet that makes it good or bad.
Jim
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Oh yes, I quite agree.
Some people can pull off forms while others destroy it and make the poem sound odd.
I quite honestly don't like any forms other than free verse, just for the simple fact that I am one of those people who destroy poems if I try to write in verse.
However, you seemed to pull off the rhyme form thingy-me-bob off here, so well done for that
Good luck in your contest,
xX Yaz Xx -
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Thanks for reading and writing Yaz.
You say that you destroy form verse when you write but that sounds odd to me. Every single poem (including free verse) has its own form it's just that some forms are only used once!!
Don't try to write form verse, just keep writing and you'll find something that can work and then you can find something else and so on. If you find a consistent form that is a bonus but it is not the Holy Grail.
Jim
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