Monday 29 October 2012

WALLS


It is not difficult to rhyme:
You let the feet all run along
And in a very little time
You have a thing that’s like a song.

But, when you attempt free
Verse - where do you dis-
Sect the lines? Should
Your weight fall on
This foot, or on
That?

Traditional verse is like a wall
Built by a brick upon a brick
With rhyme to save it from a fall
And if it’s done well it is slick.

It takes practice to
Weigh, stone against stone,
So that its own weight
Makes a dry-stone dyke
Stand. That is free verse.

Allow me a diversion.  If you write verse the writing of verse is fascinating, and it's a theme in itself.  Here's one, and I'll maybe have a few more this week.

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