gonna try to break the rhyming
and the syllable counting habit
so I can get my thoughts to coalesce
like turmeric and coriander bloomed in oil
more robust and diffuse and less restricted
rhyming can be a girdle worn
to compress or shrink ideas into
tight boxes, but like Mexican jumping beans
it may not flow in stricture of parsing
in sound byte and measured stanzas
Rhyme isn't critical to poetry
I mean look Williams' famous ditty
"this is just to say" about the plums
it was a note left on a fridge
like an accidental scrap
I didn't use to verse found it too tedious
but once begun my mind can't stop
(Even now I'm seeking rhyme for tedious)
it's like you forget your mother tongue
by learning another language
and having said that, rhyme is good discipline
it makes me struggle to find partners words
and counting syllables gives a nice rhythm
poetry worth writing should come with
some wrestling and head scratching and a few curses
It does however mean that I must forgo
words I'd really like to use because
they don't fit, like a can that holds the door
open because it is proud of the shelf
But (there are lots of buts) that
too, stretches me to find that
chef's kiss word to nail the dish
like the spice you didn't know was missing till you did
I test drive countless words to
hit the flavor I'm seeking
it might take Edison's 3,000 tries
but when you get it right, you know
and the whole thing lifts and takes off
and your heart sings
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