I like to write, and writing’s free;
Liberates mind of memory.
I take a chance to be creative;
For daily stress, a palliative.
Not modern work, you understand;
A failure when I tried my hand
Composing verse of latest fashion;
Trending styles that leave me ashen.
I like to write, and writing’s free;
I write in all sincerity.
I think I’ll stick to rhyming verse;
Attempting prose—please call the nurse.
Martin John King is a retiree living in Somerset, England.
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Thank you for the excellent poetic history lesson, Margaret. May courage not fail us.
Hello Margaret C. This is, indeed, an ominous poem. My mind returns to the relatively "innocent" mid-century decades when corruption,…
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Hello Martin, I agree with you that rhyming verse beats ‘modern work’ hands down!
I would suggest for line two a possible change to: “It frees the mind of memory”
I enjoyed your poem and its sentiment.
I like it! Nice whimsical ditty, and I also agree (with David) with the sentiment. The rest of my day (when not writing rhyming verse) is spent in front of a computer.
Terrific – truly “right up my alley” and had me laughing out loud at the end!
The words “creative” (cree – ATE – iv) and “palliative” (PAL – ee – ah – tiv) do not rhyme, unless you are expecting the reader to read the line as a phonetic joke (pal – ee- ATE – iv). That’s a possibility in light verse. However, if that is your intention you need to signal it to the reader by some sort of facetious spelling. I’d spell it as “pally-ate-ive.” It’s always a good idea to kick the reader in the teeth.
Omit the comma after “hand” in line 6. It is incorrect to separate a verb from its participial complement.
I totally agree with the sentiment in this poem. I have always felt modern free form poetry is not poetry at all, but should be regarded as prose. Here is a rather short one from a few years back, but I like yours much better.
Poetry
Poetry that rhymes
May be out of fashion.
Unfortunately for me,
It is my passion.
So just as a king
Must wear his crown,
If it does not rhyme,
I don’t write it down.
According to Lewis Turco, prose/poetry is a false dichotomy, because prose is a mode of writing and poetry is a genre of writing. “Free verse” (an oxymoron) is simply prose poetry. “Verse” is a mode of writing that is measured one way or another, so “metrical poetry” should be considered a tautology. Prose poetry has a long history in English, and includes the King James Bible and most of Whitman. Whether one likes it or not is a matter of taste. Rhymes are incidental and are not necessary in either metrical or non-metrical poetry. Does that make sense to you?
Your point is well taken. Thank you. Your knowledge is appreciated.
Writing is not as free as you might think. In English there are grammatical rules that should be observed.
Thank you all for your constructive comments.
To David, I used “liberates” as I feel liberated when a verse is complete and has been adjusted to my satisfaction (whether right or wrong). Thank you.
That’s fair enough Martin. However, I would then go with “It liberates mind’s memory” My thought was that this line needs a preceding pronoun. This minor change would then better conform to your intention.
Spot-on David. I was too intent on counting the “8”, thanks.
I don’t s’pose you’re the same Martin King who wrote ’Hoolifan’ . . are you?
Hi Monty,
I had not heard of Hoolifan before, so I googled it and found my namesake to be the author of several books mainly on the subject of football. Thanks.
Well, ya may not’ve used the word “thanks” if ya knew the ‘real’ subject-matter of Hoolifan.
Although deeply related to football; that’s not the actual subject. If I was to tell ya that the title is a portmanteau . . ya may suss the subject.