A New Verse Form? (and a guest verse!)


From commenter “Thinker”:

If you find the stuff in the bible reliable,
and you trust the clerics: “It’s all we can know!”
If you in your pew with your missus think bliss is
sitting still, never moving, then how will you grow?
You’re proud you’ve accepted, not doubted, what’s touted:
that Truth is eternal and never will change
while we find the iconoclastic fantastic
and your static worldview as something quite strange.

If Old Truth is wrong, well, let’s face it: replace it
with models that fit data better – no sweat!
To us, it’s a quest never-ending: ascending
the shoulders of giants, to see further yet.
If you cannot see what is grand in expandin’
the body of knowledge we humans can share
and, frankly, if you think exploring is boring
as Hell, then in our view, you’re already there!


For those of you who have been paying attention, this is the same form as one I have used three times before–here, here, and here.

It is great fun coming up with the internal rhymes, and it makes me very happy that at least one other person has been enticed into trying the same form!

Now, the thing is, I can’t recall another poem like this–but I am not well-versed (pun, unfortunately, intended) in the various forms rhyme and meter can take. Have you seen such an animal before? Or do I get naming rights? (In which case, I am taking suggestions for names–just one so far, so I want more!)

Comments

  1. says

    *blushes with poorly concealed pride*Thanks, Cuttlefish!It's a really fun form to work with, and I found it surprisingly easy to write in. I also like the rhythm it drives — Jeff certainly has a point with the comparison to some rap.It would be great if we could find a name for it, either an existing one or something new!

  2. Pierce R. Butler says

    Cole Porter used to do the internal-rhyme, all the time:I was still the mild, money-wild type of child that's styled "commuter," …Do do that voodoo that you do so well …– but he kept the rhymes completely internal (how infernal), not interlinear.

  3. Anonymous says

    I don't want to rain on your parade, but:Oh, hello Mr. Soul, I dropped by to pick up a reasonFor the thought that I caught that my head is the event of the seasonWhy in crowds just a trace of my facecould seem so pleasin'I'll cop out to the change, but a stranger is putting the tease on.I was down on a frown when the messengerbrought me a letterI was raised by the praise of a fanwho said I upset herAny girl in the world could have easilyknown me betterShe said, You're strange, but don't change, and I let her.In a while will the smile on my faceturn to plaster?Stick around while the clown who is sickdoes the trick of disasterFor the race of my head and my face is moving much fasterIs it strange I should change?I don't know, why don't you ask her?Sorry,SQB.

  4. Tsu Dho Nimh says

    Internal rhyming for poetry is very common in Spanish, but I don't remember what they call it.I like it because it gives a little stutter-step in what would be doggerel (not that I don't appreciate doggerel).

  5. says

    Locating this meter’s frustrating. I’m hatingThat I can’t come up with it quickly on line.If it is from rap though, that’s no go Cause I couldn’t quote you one rap stanza rhyme. Can’t do the rap thing. It may swingBut my songs are dated from some other time.Still I’m digging your stuff. It’s not fluff, Between content and rhythm it truly is prime.

  6. Anonymous says

    I see how I was wrong about Young,but there still is a kernelOf truth in the quote that I wroteSince his rhyme too is internal.(SQB)

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