Poetry? A formal and aesthetic
Rendering of perceptions we all share.
The “formal” part (somewhat anesthetic)
Is often what gives poetry its flair.
Assonance, consonance, meter and rhyme
Grace sonnets and limericks and villanelles;
Metrical feet dance to patterns that chime,
And sometimes entrance our mademoiselles.
But “form,” most moderns find,
Is just too burdensome!
“I’ve got stuff in mind
That I must wail;
No time to fuss with rhyme
Or count out syllables—
Too damn much travail.
As for aesthetics—
Sensitivity, art, and beauty—
Give me a break!”
Lyrics, after all,
Are not the only way
We poets slake
Our thirst, vent our gall.
Notice that I ramble, reveal my doubt;
Hysterical, I versify and shout
About form, style, because I’m all burned out,
And cannot think of what to write about.
(8/20/13)