I Won’t Rhyme this Time

I have never liked rhyme. To me it seems forced, putting the writer in a position of having to choose a word simply because it sounds like the word before and not because it’s the right word to convey the poem’s meaning.

That said, I do, on occasion, use rhyme. Sometimes, if I want something to sound silly, I’ll use it so that the reader’s brain will fall into a sing-song rhythm, almost like a children’s verse. I also use it when I write in Trijan Refrain, a poetic form whose requirements dictate that certain words and lines must rhyme. I’m not sure why I find this such an alluring form to use except, perhaps, that its use of repetition gives it a power other forms lack.

So use rhyme if you want – I just don’t guarantee that I’ll jump to read it right away.