At my last poetry class one of my fellow students quoted Robert Frost “Writing free verse is like playing tennis with the net down.” I am uncomfortable writing poetry without the structure of rhyme and meter. I have made a few attempts at the form, but it often reads like ordinary prose to me. Take my latest ode A Bumper Crop the opening line goes on too long for my liking. Ok, it sets the scene, but I’m sure if I tried I could write a couple of rhyming lines that would do the same job. Here is the poem for you to judge for yourselves.
A Bumper Crop
Two apple trees are heavily laden in their separate corners of our garden
Their branches weighed down with crowded fruit
Tiny slugs adorn the apple skins and wonder how they got there
They were swept away when I washed, peeled and cored the apples
In preparation for their final journey into the large stainless steel pan
Wet with acrid cider vinegar warming on the hob.
……….
Maybe I’m a bit old fashioned and too set in my ways. After all nobody else in my class seems to struggle with free verse.
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