h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I don't know your feelings on free verse, but I assume you dislike it?

B

Absolutely not, dear Ben. But I find it hard to write convincingly.

Oooops! Sorry, Ben. I thought your remark was addressed to me, not Recumbentman. Who is obviously not thinking clearly again, because he attributes my use of metre and rhyme in this poem to the effects of Grimley Moer. Whereas this poem was written circa Sept 11th '01, long before I'd discovered Hootoo ( thanks to him ), let alone Grimley!!

But he's right about one thing, I should keep a much closer eye on my punctuation. If I don't make the meaning clear, I have no right to complain if other people don't get it.

To quote from A1086770

Some people think that anything goes
But I'm not one of those;
Some treat poetic metre like trash
And jettison it altogether (for instance Ogden Nash)
But in my humble opinion free verse, as someone once wisely remarked, is merely unjustified prose

Actually Chai I'm not sure your punctuation in the last quatrain wasn't exactly as it should be, my suggestions may be ghastly solecisms, I'm all of a sudden lacking in withering looks.

One of the things that I do find interesting, is that I can only write free verse when the muse is upon me. If I try to sit down and write free verse 'cold' it just doesn't happen. Then doesn't even merit the term unjustified prose.

What about you Chai?

B

I can't write anything at all if the "urge" isn't there, not even unjustifies prose! Not even Grimley Moer. Mind you, sometimes it doesn't take much to get me going.

PS Having said that , it occurs to me that that applies to virtually all "making" that I do. I find it very difficult to get stuck in and make pottery if the impulse is lacking. I wish it could be a matter of routine, like "Ah, Monday morning, here we go...." But for me it doesn't work like that.

And lately, not only have we had a visitor staying for a week, but I've been very caught up in a large picture ( 5' x 4' ) I've been painting for a Thai restaurant owned by a friend of mine...basically a gilded Buddha floating in silhouette against a shimmering "white" background ( it has to "float" on a red wall!) . Very tricky to get it to work. Awful problems with the gold leaf, but now, thank heavens, it's finished. So I haven't had the mental space for poetry at all.