Food for Fools
by cricketjeff on February 8, 2011. © Jeff Green, All rights reserved
All poetry is prose composed to rules
And form and free exist within the whole.
Though either one may own a poet’s soul
The war of words is only food for fools.
Each writer learns the way to use his tools
As carpenters may love a certain joint
But finished furniture’s the only point
The war of words is only food for fools.
We needn’t fight like kids at rival schools
Although I rhyme I marvel at the free
How thoughts can sing without form’s certainty
The war of words is only food for fools.
All poetry is prose composed to rules
The war of words is only food for fools.
What war of words?
For poets
true poets
it isn’t the form that counts
it isn’t the way the words
join to build their bridge
it isn’t about the mechanics
the cogs and wheels
the minutiae
it’s all about thoughts
carefully placed
to stimulate minds
We need no war, no schism to divide
We need to learn the lessons each can teach
If you are wise you’ll keep all forms in reach
Avoid the trap of vulgar verbicide
We all see fools descending to the snide
Attacking works that do not fit their bent
A comment shouldn’t be the place to vent
Avoid the trap of vulgar verbicide
The rival camps should battle side by side
To give the world the beauty of the word
A civil war makes both camps seem absurd
Avoid the trap of vulgar verbicide
We need no war, no schism to divide
Avoid the trap of vulgar verbicide
Author notes
Two echo sonnets (a form I have been accused of inventing) surrounding a short
free verse stanza all trying to argue it’s only poetry that counts, so I hope
it is close to your third proposition.
“3) Use your favorite form to argue or demonstrate why both free verse and
rhyme/classical form are equally vital.”
English