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BRINGING BACK SCRAPS

Sometimes, sometimes...
in the coolness of late night
I glimpse that place of ancient rhymes,
a place to most folks out of sight.

And there before astonished eyes
I see old masters writing verse
which throughout centuries survives
spare of words but never terse.

These old ones write in the old style
with a flow of near perfection
with tales that make folks cry or smile
or pause and give them deep reflection.

Frost, Whitman, Wordsworth all live there
and all of those who wrote in rhyme.
They still compose poems which they share
with one another all the time.

Every time I see that place
I bring a few lines back with me
and wonder if at the end of my race
I'll be among that company..

Style / type: 
Structured: Western
Review Request (Intensity): 
I want the raw truth, feel free to knock me on my back
Editing stage: 
Content level: 
Not Explicit Content

Comments

nice. reminds me of the greek underworld. the gathering of heroes after death.

appreciate you coming by

author comment

I think we all go there just as we fall off to sleep. Thanks for coming by

author comment

I enjoyed this very much, I also bring back scraps. Enjoy your times when you bath in beauty, and may your couplet always be true:
"with tales that make folks cry or smile
or pause and give them deep reflection."

T

The most powerful reaction
of mind on mind
is transference of sight

Always good when another enjoys a scribble of mine

author comment

this poem tells me that you are recovering and getting back to your rhyming best

I loved the title ..such a scrap is indeed invaluable...

regards,...

raj (sublime_ocean)

The recovery Is proceeding....now what excuse can I use for mistakes? lol

author comment

it's pretty simple for you man...use an alternative rhyme for "me" either in L2 or L4 in the concluding Stanza....
...................................................................

raj (sublime_ocean)

How's that work now?

author comment

you worked your magic with a tiny tweak and fixed it good :)
..................................................................................

raj (sublime_ocean)

hardly magic, just a good night sleep and fresh look. Thanks for the honesty that the first version wasn't quite right.

author comment

well, you'll never get published in the New Yorker or in Poetry Magazine as you write in rhyme. (Unfortunately they have lost touch with the very soul of poetry for the 2000 years.) You have not only made the sin of rhyming, but you have made your poem comprehensible to boot! Dana Giola famously said in "Can Poetry Matter" (was a best seller) how since 1960 all academia and publications declared rhyme defunct, and the result was the total loss of the reading public who weren't themselves poets. Rhyme is poetry as a key signature is to music. Most folks associate poetry with rhyme.
Well after the publication of his book came rap. It is often (most often) rhyme in the extreme,
placing all the poetic narrative in that devise at the expense of all others, including imagery, metaphor, and color. So rhyme is back, just not the way you are writing it which is in the traditional way of presenting. Its rare to hear an adjective in Rap, even as basic as "astonished eyes". I think you are in good company, like a realist painter who chooses to paint the landscape as he sees to express the craft, just like in past centuries. It is a tradition which I am glad you are continuing in a very relaxed and comfortable read. Poet and general reader alike will delight in this style and no one will question that it is a poem. I cannot say the same for a good part of the things I see published by the modernists, or academia. It's like anything one calls a poem is a poem because it is declared it so... I suppose any scribble on a page can be called a poem today, but not by the Scribbler.

I practice the old craft of rhyme from time to time, but I also see the value of free verse- the psalms are written that way, and many memorable works. There are some modern poets who do both very successfully in English - D.Thomas, Lowell, Auden etc. I think there's room for "formalism" (the old way) and the modern in the museum, and hope you do as well.

..

Eumolpus
I'd rather learn from one bird how to sing
than teach ten thousand stars how not to dance
ee cummings

actually Have written some free verse mainly to see if and show that I can. I wonder how many people can recite free verse from memory? And knowing the answer to that how many can recite a favorite rhyming poem from memory. Free verse has a real place in poetry but I think over the long haul it will be poetry with at least some rhyme which will prevail. As to being published I have actually had a few of my scribbles published but am fully aware that most ivory tower types consider rhyming poetry passes'.......I don't care what they think though lol

author comment
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