All About My Muse...

As you can see from my first post, I write poems, and they rhyme.  I offer no excuses for the fact that I am an unabashed rhymer.  I fought it at first - like many I used to be a "rhyme snob".  In my twenties I wrote a lot of self important gibberish that passed for poetry.  (My friends all thought it was great, and at the time so did I - which explains how my friends read it in the first place : )  When  I read it to my now husband he proclaimed it "Klingon love poetry". I was dismissive - what did he know?  Now I can answer that question. He knew what he liked.  Poetry is like any other form of art - entirely subjective. 

Fast forward about twenty years.  Although I always aspired to "be a writer", I was too busy living my story to write much.  I made three false starts on books, but lost motivation quickly.  One day I found one of the poems I had written years back, and decided to share it with a friend.  It was met with great enthusiasm, and a challenge in the form of a question.

"Have you ever written a poem about forgiveness?"

I hadn't, but suddenly I felt compelled to try my hand at writing a poem on that topic.  (In those days I worked at a small, struggling health food store, and had plenty of time to scribble at work.)  So there I sat the very next day, and to my surprise I had a poem come to me in almost perfectly metered rhyme!  When I read it to my husband on the way home from work he proclaimed -

"Now THAT'S a poem!!"

I shared it with my friend, and she loved it too. Needless to say I kept at it.  The rhyme and meter come almost effortlessly to me.  I've grown so accustomed to rhyming these past five years that I'm now a bit biased in favour of rhymes, and I'll tell you why.  I believe that humans are naturally geared to remember patterns and rhythms.  Poems that rhyme may not be considered high art, but they are memorable.  Shakespeare rhymed.  Ogden Nash coined the phrase "Candy is dandy, but liquor is quicker!"  Would that be as memorable stated any other way?  Not all that rhymes is trite merely because it rhymes.  Think about hymns and the deep and uplifting messages contained therein.

I have chosen what many dub a simplistic medium to portray a variety of deeper, broader topics.  Some of what I write may be silly, but I never rhyme "just for the sake of rhyming".  Every poem has to express a thought or tell a story. Those are the rules that I live by.  I like engaging in the mental gymnastics involved in getting my message across within a specified rhythm pattern and with just the right rhyming words.  (I'm hoping this helps me fend off dementia in my dotage!)

Now you have the whole story - read on - or don't.  After all, poetry is subjective, and you don't need to listen to my muse if you don't want to.

But I'm glad I listen to her, even if she can inconvenience me at times...

Nocturnal Muse:  By Sharon Flood Kasenberg - May 21, 2008

She is an inconvenient muse
who wakens me by night -
yet won't inspire me when I choose,
which is by morning's light.
When I upon my pillow doze
almost submerged in sleep,
her poetry to my mind flows
and from my bed I creep.
My brain engages and I write,
though wearied I may be -
and verses weave by my lamp's light
through eyes that barely see.
To steer my pen seems such a chore
within those wee small hours -
but when she prompts I shan't ignore
lest she withdraw her powers.
When finally lines are complete
I can lay down my pen,
and settle into slumber sweet -
unless she calls again!