--- title: On formal poetry genre: verse id: onformalpoetry toc: "On formal poetry" project: title: Elegies for alternate selves class: elegies order: 12 prev: - title: Feeding the raven link: feedingtheraven next: - title: I am link: i-am ... | I think that I could write formal poems | exclusively, or at least inclusive | with all the other stuff I write | I guess. Of course, I've already written | a few, this one included, though "formal" | is maybe a stretch. Is blank verse a form? | What is form anyway? I picture old | women counting [stitches on their knitting][knitting], | keeping iambs next to iambs in lines | as straight and sure as arrows. But my sock | is lumpy, poorly made: it's beginning | to unravel. Stresses don't line up. Syl- | lables forced to fit like [McNugget][] molds. | That cliché on the arrow? I'm aware. | My prepositions too---God, where's it stop? | The answer: never. I will never stop | writing poems, or hating what I write. [knitting]: roughgloves.html [McNugget]: ronaldmcdonald.html