Advice to the Would-Be Meterman
by cricketjeff on February 12, 2012. © Jeff Green, All rights reserved
I’m sometimes asked for help with rhyme and meter;
“I need my words to fit but there’s no way,
I’ve penned my thoughts but how can they sound sweeter
Yet still portray the things I need to say?”
If they’re your thoughts it’s not my place to change them,
But thoughts aren’t words and English is your friend.
Pick up your words and try to rearrange them –
Our language is a wand that loves to bend.
Ignore those fools who say “avoid the fillers”,
An idle syllable is not a curse.
It’s hardened thoughts that are the wanton killers
Of flowing prose that dreams of being verse.
Some altered words, a subtle change of tense,
The sounds can change without a change of sense.
English