Poem Written on 11/29/07

Remember when poetry was an artform
a high end mode of expression
when it wasn't important to rhyme every line
but to get your point across with rhythm

Yet we become obsessed with the rhyme
What rhymes with rhyme besides time?
Lime? Do you as an expressionist, a poet
actually go as far as to make a lime metaphor
just to keep your rhyme scheme?

So now is this poem unsuccessful
since I didn't keep a four-line stanza?
Or are you finally thinking outside of rhymes
for ways to find a poem's rhythm?

Poems don't have to be wordy,
lengthy
or full of adjectives
to get a point across.
Poems aren't alive when you read them
Poems only come alive successfully when we speak them
The words may seem perfect, but if you speak them poorly
it's just a smart poem, without its rhythm

So perhaps all those books of poetry collections
are really just scripts waiting on the shelf
waiting to be brought alive
to bring a point to light
to feel its rhythm

A poem read aloud by its author
is like hearing the rhythm of the author's heart