Free Verse

Poet, seeking to impress rather than express.

I maintain this is true, and that most of us know it:
in the hands of a writer who is not a poet
free verse is a curse, you’ll find nothing worse
in the whole of the written universe.

“Do I make myself clear?
Oh dear! That bit will have to be rewritten.
If you know what I mean,
then I’ll wipe the slate clean, and try
to be more indirect.”

“Do I speak to you plainly?
Let me draft it againly, and invent words
you won’t have encountered.”

“Did I slip in a rhyme
at the end of a line?
Oh please don’t expose me,
tell no-one who knows me.
Shit! Shame upon shame,
I’ve done it again!”

“Did that verse have a beat?
My confusion’s complete.
I’ll mangle and strangle
those lines ‘til
the pulse
dies.”

“Ambiguity, obscurity and arbitrary line . . .
breaks — these are the sine qua non.
With them we will kennel our guilty arcana,
which include logolatry and
not being too sure what it is we are trying to say.”

Poetry that’s lacking in every constraint
is like making a picture by spilling paint.
An intriguing commingling of words is the aim,
with no form or sure meaning to spoil the game.
So the reader creates while the writer takes credit;
that’s a pretty good con, and nice work if you can get it!