NaPoWriMo - Day 15

Well we're back and it is Day 15 of NaPoWriMo. That means we are halfway through. Is it a glass half full or a glass half empty? It is both: Half full of poems written (adding more each day) and half empty of prompts. I generally enjoy the prompts very much so I'll be sad to see them go. And I'll be sadder to not have a reason that I must take a minute and write a poem each day. It has helped keep me sane this April.

The prompt is to write a poem that talks to itself, I suppose (Interpret the full prompt for yourself, here). Hmm here goes:

O, freeform verse,
why do I always write you?
Am I that enamored with you?
No, I think it is laziness
On my part.
So many poems require counting syllables
Which should be easy
But some words trip me up.
Even more require paying attention to feet.
Stressed and unstressed syllables make me crazy
I can't hear which ones I stress when I speak -
Am I monotone?
Yes, I am a person much more suited to prose.

Haiku is not bad
I like it very much but
It does seem too short.

A long time ago I wrote a limerick
But not once have I returned to that shtik
Though I liked it very much,
The funny bone I didn't touch
I simply couldn't do the trick.

(Not to mention that the first three lines are supposed to be long).
So again to you freeform verse, I return
Your lines are easy for me to learn
My heart speaks in prose
Not measured speech
With unruly metric feet.

Other forms are a challenge,
but with you I make up the rules as I go
(Do I really even have any?
The answer is probably - no.)
Sometimes I rhyme, sometimes I don't.
It isn't that I can't or won't
At some point freeform became my style
Which is odd, because if you knew me in real life
You'd know that it's by rules I abide.



Maureen was right; this prompt was good for looking at my writing process and specifically why I seem to dwell almost exclusively in freeform verse. Maybe I need to try writing in different forms? Maybe that should be a challenge I add for myself for the rest of NaPoWriMo? Do you have a form that you tend to dwell in? Why?
Want to suggest a form for me to try? Let me know!

Write away,

Sharon