Some Poetic Advice

Do you ever try to write poetry?
I do.
And sometimes my stuff even rhymes.
It used to rhyme more frequently, but in the past five or six years I find that my poems are nearly always free verse.
I blame Billy Collins.
And William Stafford.
But mostly Billy Collins.
I’m not kidding. Since I really latched on to the wonderful poetry of Collins, I find that I’ve been going about poetry the easier way!
Free verse.
Regarding his disdain for this style, Robert Frost said “I’d just as soon play tennis with the net down.”
I love Frost, but his statement seems too dismissive for me. I prefer to think of free verse as, umm… hitting a tennis ball against a wall and having it bounce back to you.
And we all know! That is fun as hell!

I encourage you all to begin writing poetry if you haven’t done so yet.
Begin by just writing a pile of stuff and then break it up into different lines.
Let your imagination bounce out onto the page!
Or screen.
That’s another thing.
I wrote poetry long before computers were invented, and then when they came along I said [with Frostian disdain], “Hah! I will stick to paper and pen thank you very much! If it was good enough for Shakespeare…." yadda yadda.
And now, I find that I prefer tapping it all out on the keyboard.
While being drunk.
And speaking of technology, here is a little tip I will toss out to all my poet-friends.
You should all have on your desktop toolbar the following link → RHYMER.
It is so cool.
On those days when you are trying to ace that serve and the net IS up, Rhymer can be a real help.
Especially if you’re a bit too drunk and stuff.

[One of mine that actually rhymes → HERE.]

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