Shoeing the Centipede
You don't need a high I.Q.
to write a haiku,
and doggonit
a sonnet
just ain't that tough.
Free verse? Shit,
a brain-damaged woodpecker
can write that stuff,
and sure as snowflakes melt in Hell
you can write a villanelle
by finding two strong lines that rhyme
and sticking with them.
Plus, just between us,
a sestina is
pretty much six words
that can go either way,
while a roundelay
is mainly refrain.
And honestly,
most any turd
off the street
can create an iambic beat
using words as crude
as duh and cat.
Let those rummy critics quibble
in polysyllables
and wave their paper hats:
writing poems isn't hard.
What's hard, what elevates
you to a bona fide bard,
what summons new colors from the sun,
is writing a great one.
_______________
Jim Dodge
Always Something
Limberlost Press
Rick & Rosemary Ardinger
17 Canyon Trail
Boise, Idaho 83716
www. Limberlostpress.com
one of the finest books of poems for 2023
or any year
