"A Thrilling Momen" by John George Brown‘Writing’s Free’ by Martin King The Society August 25, 2018 Culture, Humor, Poetry 14 Comments I like to write, and writing’s free; Liberates mind of memory. I take a chance to be creative; For daily stress, a palliative. Not modern work, you understand; A failure when I tried my hand Composing verse of latest fashion; Trending styles that leave me ashen. I like to write, and writing’s free; I write in all sincerity. I think I’ll stick to rhyming verse; Attempting prose—please call the nurse. Martin John King is a retiree living in Somerset, England. NOTE TO READERS: If you enjoyed this poem or other content, please consider making a donation to the Society of Classical Poets. The Society of Classical Poets does not endorse any views expressed in individual poems or commentary. Share this:Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)Click to print (Opens in new window)Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)Click to share on WhatsApp (Opens in new window)Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window)Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window)Trending now: 14 Responses David Watt August 25, 2018 Hello Martin, I agree with you that rhyming verse beats ‘modern work’ hands down! I would suggest for line two a possible change to: “It frees the mind of memory” I enjoyed your poem and its sentiment. Reply Steve Shaffer August 25, 2018 I like it! Nice whimsical ditty, and I also agree (with David) with the sentiment. The rest of my day (when not writing rhyming verse) is spent in front of a computer. Reply Joe Tessitore August 25, 2018 Terrific – truly “right up my alley” and had me laughing out loud at the end! Reply Joseph S. Salemi August 25, 2018 The words “creative” (cree – ATE – iv) and “palliative” (PAL – ee – ah – tiv) do not rhyme, unless you are expecting the reader to read the line as a phonetic joke (pal – ee- ATE – iv). That’s a possibility in light verse. However, if that is your intention you need to signal it to the reader by some sort of facetious spelling. I’d spell it as “pally-ate-ive.” It’s always a good idea to kick the reader in the teeth. Omit the comma after “hand” in line 6. It is incorrect to separate a verb from its participial complement. Reply David Paul Behrens August 25, 2018 I totally agree with the sentiment in this poem. I have always felt modern free form poetry is not poetry at all, but should be regarded as prose. Here is a rather short one from a few years back, but I like yours much better. Poetry Poetry that rhymes May be out of fashion. Unfortunately for me, It is my passion. So just as a king Must wear his crown, If it does not rhyme, I don’t write it down. Reply C.B. Anderson August 26, 2018 According to Lewis Turco, prose/poetry is a false dichotomy, because prose is a mode of writing and poetry is a genre of writing. “Free verse” (an oxymoron) is simply prose poetry. “Verse” is a mode of writing that is measured one way or another, so “metrical poetry” should be considered a tautology. Prose poetry has a long history in English, and includes the King James Bible and most of Whitman. Whether one likes it or not is a matter of taste. Rhymes are incidental and are not necessary in either metrical or non-metrical poetry. Does that make sense to you? Reply David Paul Behrens August 26, 2018 Your point is well taken. Thank you. Your knowledge is appreciated. C.B. Anderson August 25, 2018 Writing is not as free as you might think. In English there are grammatical rules that should be observed. Reply MARTIN KING August 26, 2018 Thank you all for your constructive comments. To David, I used “liberates” as I feel liberated when a verse is complete and has been adjusted to my satisfaction (whether right or wrong). Thank you. Reply David Watt August 26, 2018 That’s fair enough Martin. However, I would then go with “It liberates mind’s memory” My thought was that this line needs a preceding pronoun. This minor change would then better conform to your intention. Reply Martin King August 27, 2018 Spot-on David. I was too intent on counting the “8”, thanks. Reply Monty August 26, 2018 I don’t s’pose you’re the same Martin King who wrote ’Hoolifan’ . . are you? Reply Martin King August 27, 2018 Hi Monty, I had not heard of Hoolifan before, so I googled it and found my namesake to be the author of several books mainly on the subject of football. Thanks. Reply Monty August 28, 2018 Well, ya may not’ve used the word “thanks” if ya knew the ‘real’ subject-matter of Hoolifan. Although deeply related to football; that’s not the actual subject. If I was to tell ya that the title is a portmanteau . . ya may suss the subject. Leave a Reply Cancel ReplyYour email address will not be published.CommentName* Email* Website Notify me of follow-up comments by email. Notify me of new posts by email. Δ This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.
David Watt August 25, 2018 Hello Martin, I agree with you that rhyming verse beats ‘modern work’ hands down! I would suggest for line two a possible change to: “It frees the mind of memory” I enjoyed your poem and its sentiment. Reply
Steve Shaffer August 25, 2018 I like it! Nice whimsical ditty, and I also agree (with David) with the sentiment. The rest of my day (when not writing rhyming verse) is spent in front of a computer. Reply
Joe Tessitore August 25, 2018 Terrific – truly “right up my alley” and had me laughing out loud at the end! Reply
Joseph S. Salemi August 25, 2018 The words “creative” (cree – ATE – iv) and “palliative” (PAL – ee – ah – tiv) do not rhyme, unless you are expecting the reader to read the line as a phonetic joke (pal – ee- ATE – iv). That’s a possibility in light verse. However, if that is your intention you need to signal it to the reader by some sort of facetious spelling. I’d spell it as “pally-ate-ive.” It’s always a good idea to kick the reader in the teeth. Omit the comma after “hand” in line 6. It is incorrect to separate a verb from its participial complement. Reply
David Paul Behrens August 25, 2018 I totally agree with the sentiment in this poem. I have always felt modern free form poetry is not poetry at all, but should be regarded as prose. Here is a rather short one from a few years back, but I like yours much better. Poetry Poetry that rhymes May be out of fashion. Unfortunately for me, It is my passion. So just as a king Must wear his crown, If it does not rhyme, I don’t write it down. Reply
C.B. Anderson August 26, 2018 According to Lewis Turco, prose/poetry is a false dichotomy, because prose is a mode of writing and poetry is a genre of writing. “Free verse” (an oxymoron) is simply prose poetry. “Verse” is a mode of writing that is measured one way or another, so “metrical poetry” should be considered a tautology. Prose poetry has a long history in English, and includes the King James Bible and most of Whitman. Whether one likes it or not is a matter of taste. Rhymes are incidental and are not necessary in either metrical or non-metrical poetry. Does that make sense to you? Reply
David Paul Behrens August 26, 2018 Your point is well taken. Thank you. Your knowledge is appreciated.
C.B. Anderson August 25, 2018 Writing is not as free as you might think. In English there are grammatical rules that should be observed. Reply
MARTIN KING August 26, 2018 Thank you all for your constructive comments. To David, I used “liberates” as I feel liberated when a verse is complete and has been adjusted to my satisfaction (whether right or wrong). Thank you. Reply
David Watt August 26, 2018 That’s fair enough Martin. However, I would then go with “It liberates mind’s memory” My thought was that this line needs a preceding pronoun. This minor change would then better conform to your intention. Reply
Monty August 26, 2018 I don’t s’pose you’re the same Martin King who wrote ’Hoolifan’ . . are you? Reply
Martin King August 27, 2018 Hi Monty, I had not heard of Hoolifan before, so I googled it and found my namesake to be the author of several books mainly on the subject of football. Thanks. Reply
Monty August 28, 2018 Well, ya may not’ve used the word “thanks” if ya knew the ‘real’ subject-matter of Hoolifan. Although deeply related to football; that’s not the actual subject. If I was to tell ya that the title is a portmanteau . . ya may suss the subject.