A POEM

Why is it I insist on a poem being poetry?

Why must the words rhyme?

I know if I read one with no sound alike words

I feel I have wasted my time.

I was brought up knowing a poem dances

From one rhyming word to another

If I cannot think of a rhyme for misanthrope

Then the poem just becomes a bother

A typical beat is a four line stanza

Rhyming words on number two and four

Sometimes some words between will sing

When that happens you are just getting more

These disjointed spillings of haphazard terms

All trying to shine in their own light

Is just someone's excuse for not knowing the words

That will open our minds and give it sight

I guess there are many forms of verse

A certain type for anyone who desires

They afford all a recognizable reason

For not knowing the ice or the fires

The rhythmical dancing of the words on the paper

Is actually the poet as he plays

The bulk of the task being the ability to rhyme

That most difficult of term or phrase

So spill out your mish mash, dump your refuse

Sort it out and apply the healing salve

If you can't make it rhyme, if it doesn't dance

Then perhaps a poem is not what you have

Get your head out the clouds, your feet on the ground

Put your pen to the task as they say

Just make it rhyme, make it sing and dance

Write a poem not a story a tale or a play

Learn more about this author, Gary Maclean.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.

---

Add your voice

Know something about Poetry: On poems?
We want to hear your view. Write now!