DO POEMS HAVE TO RHYME?

I haven't written much poetry recently. I'm not sure why that is. It can be quite time consuming I suppose, and I haven't been really inspired by anything. I do still love the art form though. In fact, the other day, I read my friend Sarah's poem about The Galleon, and the gentle rhythm of it had me swaying with delight.

Writing poetry's quite time-consuming though. The rhythm and the tone, the selection of words and the flow of a poem don't always just tumble out of your fingers after all, not to mention that frantic search for rhyming words at the end of each line.

And that got me thinking. What if you could break all those rules? What if there were a way to craft a poem which obviously flouts the rule book but still retains its 'poem-ness'?

So, I had a go. The only thing is, it had to be a poem about writing poetry for it to make any sense at all. It's odd but I quite like it:


Do Poems Have To Rhyme?

Do poems have to rhyme?
I wonder, staring at my pen.
Perhaps they don't
Perhaps they won't
I tell myself a- second time.

Do poems have to scan?
I ponder, counting out each line
Each syllable
A finger tip
That helps me count in, um, pulses

Do poems have to be about
A thing that made me think?
I think a lot
of pointless rot
And sometimes let
My thinking get
Diverted by
The things that I
Have seen go by
Which caught my eye
And made me sure
The world is mad
And even more
Am I
impacted

Often though

I'm just distracted
Do poems have to flow?
I question, guessing that they could
But why did rules
We learned at school
Convince us that they should?

Do poems have to make (I ask)
The slightest bit of sense?
Do hippos wander through the woods
In search of fifty pence?

Do poems have to have
A clever end to make you think?
Or can I leave it unresolved
And hanging on.