The Poet's Lament
When people ask me what I am, I tell people that I am a writer. I prefer to say that I am a
writer, rather than a poet or a translator or a publisher. I write poetry and
prose and share it on this blog; I therefore I feel that the word “writer”
encompasses what I do above all others.
I tell people I am a writer, I get varied responses. Quite often, I will get a series of follow up questions...
“What do you write?”
“I write poetry.”
“Does it rhyme?”
I have yet to understand the belief that poems should rhyme. I
have heard some say “well if it does not rhyme, it does not count as poetry.”
Granted I write more prose than poetry; however I disagree with that belief.
I prefer to write in a free style or form, with the writing flowing
as my thoughts. To me, writing poems in rhyme is too strict a structure, too
confining for my self-expression. Of course there are many examples of poems
that rhyme from famous authors and poets in verses and couplets-William
Shakespeare, Dr. Seuss, the late Dr. Maya Angelou to name but a few. The words are
both lyrical and beautiful in any form.
I thought about it, this concept of rhyming. I decided I would challenge myself and try to write a poem that rhymes. The poem
below is my attempt. This will only rhyme in English, I realize.....
"To Rhyme or Not to Rhyme"
It has bothered me for some time
the thought that poems all should rhyme,
as if all the words must sound the same,
as if to that we all must aim.
I do not write in words that rhyme
I find I do not have the time
to think in couplets, lines of two
and try to find which words will do.
Be it prose or poetry,
what I write is wholly free.
Poets write in word and deed
in pure expression, guaranteed
in writing out their guarded thoughts
with pen and paper, ink that blots.
There is no wrong way or a right
to speak your mind, to really write
I try not to feel afraid,
or discouraged or dismayed
if the words and thoughts won’t come
I leave them be, they then become
words and verses, all sublime
in the needed space and time,
when my muse, Calliope
visits and inspires me.
In my ear she sings and hums
and in due time, the moment comes.
I write down what the muse hath said,
share the thoughts within my head.
So does a poem have to rhyme?
To me, the words have their own time.
Poems do not have to rhyme
unless your thoughts the stanzas mime.
To one’s own self must be content
to share your words of wonderment.
I do not think that you will see
poems like this more from me.
For now I stop and cease to rhyme
and write more at a later time.
© Esperanza Habla All Rights Reserved
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