The fashion today’s

For Free Verse, I’d say

But I find the discipline neater

To write poetry

Syllabically-

The Soul of the Work is The Metre.

I’m not autocratic

Nor even dogmatic

And occasionally I might complete a

Piece without form,

Which isn’t my norm,

But then I return to The Metre.

Sometimes there’s a price

For being precise

You’ll need, now and then, to delete a

Great word that won’t scan,

Like Abraham’s lamb,

A sacrifice made to The Metre.

And relevant rhymes

I agree will, sometimes,

Embellish and make the line sweeter

But the essence for me

Of all poetry’s

The Power and Pace of The Metre.

That Carol Ann Duffy

I find a bit stuffy

(I’d tell her this if I should meet her)

“You write your Free Verse.

 (You’ll soon line your purse!)

But I –

I write in Metre”