Poem: Writing a Poem

I was thinking about poetry the other day—surprise, surprise. I remembered reading some book reviews by readers who claimed that certain novels in verse shouldn’t be in poetry form because, as they claimed, all the author had to do was hit enter throughout their sentences. Which just made me frustrated. What exactly does that mean? Did the reader prefer the complexities of form poetry to free verse? Did they not understand poetry? 

Sure, some stories clearly deserve to be told in verse whereas others border on the edge between fitting best in verse and prose. But poetry is often overlooked. Perhaps my two favorite things about verse is its use of metaphor and imagery. Writers can combine things in poetry that would never make sense in prose. How exciting is that?

Writing a Poem 

Poetry is more
than hitting Enter
after every other word
in a sentence.

Poetry is
playing with the upside-down rain,
dancing in the desert dunes,
singing in the tepid shower,
crying beneath the dry boughs,
screaming with the howling wind.

Poetry has
helped me find the x in an algebraic map,
reminded me how chalk and flour feel similar,
spent every last word I have to buy
a feather.

Shall we play a game?
¹Three down, ²four across,
³four down, ⁴two across, ⁵five across.

Tell me one more time
how all I had to do
to avoid itching
these mosquito bites
was to hit Enter.

***

Let’s chat! What did you think of the poem? Do you write poetry? Readers and writers, do you prefer form or free verse?

Similar poems: The TBR List, Silent Words, and Pile of Words