Rhyming Poetry

Prompt: Write a 20-line rhyming poem about something that really annoys you.

Source:writersdigest.com

Response: Rhyming Poetry

I despise rhyming poetry

everything from couplet to soliloquy.

It's pretentious and overdone

to pretend 'sun' hasn't already been rhymed to 'won'.

It gives a false sense of security

to those who can't quite write free verse poetry -

It pulls the wool over the writer's eyes

and persuades them to recycle English teachers' lies.

As if no one has rhymed 'hearts' or 'crime'

with cliched statements about 'starts' and 'time' -

As if rhyme has any place outside the realm of a kids' book

that's read to them and then tucked away without another look.

What happens to the elasticity of the English word -

the lovely cascading cacophonous noise created to be heard -

when the same two sounds are stuck like glue

or like gum to the bottom of a passerby's shoe?

What happens to the meaning of a poem's song

when requirements for rhyme make it far too long?

Yes, I despise rhyming poetry - caboodle and kit . . .

plus (If you must know) . . . I'm terrible at it.

Notes: This poem was also originally written with straight margins so there's no reason to view the project with this one.

This is probably my favorite prompt so far. And rhyming poetry really does grate on my nerves, but I'm not dissing on any poet brave and organized enough to use it. Poetry is all about putting words into a verbal display of a specific piece of the writer and if you can use rhymes to do that - go you.