Write in blank verse, your poems should not rhyme
I’ve heard this repeatedly, but every single time
When I start writing words automatically get arranged
Into rhyming couplets, and it feels strange
To interfere with a process that comes to me
After all these years of writing, quite naturally
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Rhyming poetry has fallen out of favor because it appears
Contrived and unnatural, especially if one adheres
To a hard rhyming scheme, it seems to be
Childlike and sing-song in quality
Modern poetry more emphasis does place
On meaning, imagery and emotion, these have replaced
The need for rhyme, modern poetry should contain
Rhythm without rhyme, I have been told again and again
To preserve rhyme in a poem, meaning is sacrificed
Thus have many poetry aficionados rhyming poetry criticized
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The rebel in me by these rules refuses to abide
Therefore outright rejection I’ve learnt to take in my stride
But in my defense, there is one thing I want to state
Even while reading poetry, towards old rhyming poems I gravitate
The works of Wordsworth, Keats, Longfellow I can from memory recite
On the other hand while reading modern poetry I fight
My ability to memorize, there is no trick that can be applied
To remember lines that are not by a rhyming scheme tied
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I have tried writing in free verse, in the modern style
Only to give it up after struggling for a while
Free verse seems insipid and inauthentic
Therefore to rhyming poetry I shall stick
Passion...unbridled 