POETRY in DISGUISE

I once could recognize poetry,
I knew it every time.
A poem was never disguised you see
it had structure, meter, and rhyme.

But poetry has evolved and changed
and I have been left behind.
I have to have some poems explained
before they make sense in my mind.

Some are really quite beautiful
and some are rich with meaning,
some seem to mean nothing at all
and some make me feel like screaming.

I have seen single sentence poems
and one with a single word only.
How can one express with one word
the pain suffered by the lonely?

How can a single sentence express
the mixed up emotions of love,
of friendship, of joy, of complete happiness,
or the beauty of a fall moon above?

I don't understand, but I'm trying to,
how a poem can be lacking in rhyme,
and so I'm beseeching all of you
to explain when you can spare some time.

© 2007 G. Harrison Quay

Reviews

[*~Imperfectly Me~*]

I don't think that all poetry should rhyme... however most of my poems do... I think that it is all in the writers opinion of poetry... some can write without rhyme and still it has a rhythm to it... however i think that a poem should be more than just 3 words etc... i really like this one.... Great job!

[justjenn_2u]

I like this. I surely do not know about all of the different types of poems. I do agree, however, that poetry should rhyme. I thought rhyme and poetry just went hand in hand. I read alot of poems and I wonder, "Hey, is there something wrong with me? Am I just not getting this, how come I never write this way." Ever since I started writing, I always had the rhyme scheme going. I am so glad you wrote a poem to address this. You were able to write a poem about poetry, now that's talent!!!

[JC Fox]

Another great poem and frankly people have a cookie cutter view on poetry and believe it all has to rhyme and be in lines and so on and so forth but poetry is much much more.

[Celtic Cat]

hehe, well, I'll give it a go. First off, I had three one-word poems....for a contest to sum up the world in a word. But, that's the only reason I did it. Otherwise, where's the challenge in writing a word on paper? As for rhyming, I can't help myself, I just do it. Other people....not always. Some people are actually BOTHERED by rhymes...can you imagine?? I'm gonna guess that in a society where we shorten everything this is just one of the fallouts. You know...like how the tabloids call couples by one conjoined name? And Washington Mutual Bank advertises itself as Wa Mu? And how any three syllable word is changed to a one syllable word. I think either A: we're a really lazy society, or B: we're in too much of a rush or C: we're deteriorating rapidly as we speak, or D: it's the test messaging, d****t!
Well...those are my guesses! I feel your pain!

[Whiles]

I like this.
Very clear, very well-explained. Also, I sympathize.