Against the Law?

No. Lots of top modern poets use rhyme: Wendy Cope, Sophie Hannah, Roddy Lumsden and Paul Muldoon being a small selection of them.

Macjoyce and Rokkitnite, to name two, have lots of good rhyming stuff on here.

I would never dream of chopping up prose and calling it a poem. But then, if everyone else is at it...
http://www.abctales.com/story/ftse100/mock-killingbird

It's far easier to write something that doesn't rhyme, scan, or have any appreciable rhythm. It isn't poetry. My effort, wonderful though it is, isn't poetry. It's minced prose masquerading as a poem. I love it.

Macjoyce can write a wicked rhyme
A rhythmic rapping man of the time.
Here's me slipping on slime,
Out of touch and past my prime.
If poetry don't work I'm
Jacking it in and
Turning to crime.

Isn't minced prose a spore?

Minced prose ropes your pores. Not a lot of people know that.

There does seem to be an awful lot of free verse on this site. (As well as a lot of awful free verse, he added uncharitably.)

I'm probably as guilty as anyone else of crossing the line into prose, from time to time.

What a lot of aspiring poets seem to fail to realise is that free verse requires more discipline, not less. Without the obvious structures of rhyme and metre, there needs to be something else underpinning a poem to shape and hold it together.

No matter how (post)modern you're being, you need to be able to explain your concept and intent. Why does this line break there and not here? for instance.

I apply these criteria in my role as editor of ABCtales Magazine and consequently find it quite difficult to source enough content for each issue. Do you agree/disagree with my policy?

The problem with free verse is that far too many people take the simplistic and rather juvenile attitude of "Duh! Like, poems don't HAVE to rhyme, u no!!!!" etc.

And they think this means they can pass anything off as poetry and churn out a load of rhymeless formless witless clueless crap and never bother to try to improve.

But there are free verse poets around who DO know what they're doing, and have imagination and craft and wit and intelligence. Wilky is one of them. Artisus is another. MistakenMagic has a lot of potential, but she is teenage and can't accept suggestions for improvement. Hopefully she will soon grow out of this.

I have some free verse poems, but I didn't feel confident enough to try free verse until I'd written plenty of rhyming and more structured stuff. We live in an intellectual-cultural climate that looks down its nose at rhymed-metric poetry and sees it as quaint, old-fashioned and vulgar. As far as the intellectual bourgeois elite are concerned, yes, rhyming *is* against the law. I am doing everything I can to take this prejudice and ram it up their fucking arses. I suggest you join me.

www.myspace.com/norwichfacetransplant

'load of rhymeless formless witless clueless crap'

you forgot pointless... I endeavour to ensure I meet the above criteria also.

It seems that folk attempting rhyme
is not the only versing crime:
cruel of you to call us crap
a look to the mirror in point, old chap?

"As far as the intellectual bourgeois elite are concerned, yes, rhyming *is* against the law."

I don't think this is really true. The major poetry publishers all publish some rhyming poetry. In fact, Faber, Bloodaxe and Carcanet all publish at least one major poet each that writes 95% rhyming poems. And rhyme is much more common amongst the latest crop of rising stars in poetry than it was amongst a similar group 10 years ago.

Bloodaxe will soon be bring out a major anthology of new British poetry. Given that it's being edited by Roddy Lumsden, it's very unlikely it'll be a rhyme-free zone.

I don't think the major debate, though, is rhyme vs. 'chopped up prose'.

I don't wholly agree with this:

"What a lot of aspiring poets seem to fail to realise is that free verse requires more discipline, not less. Without the obvious structures of rhyme and metre, there needs to be something else underpinning a poem to shape and hold it together.

No matter how (post)modern you're being, you need to be able to explain your concept and intent."

I agree that for free verse to work, the reader has to be clear what you're doing and why. I also agree that with any poem, before writing the poem, you need to be clear about what you'll achieve with a poem that you wouldn't be able to achieve through prose but I don't this is any less true of rhyming poetry than free verse.

Sticking rhyming words at the end of your lines is no more a guarantee of writing a decent poem than randomly inserting a line break.

Rhyme is a powerful tool but it isn't a substitute for having something to write about and, if you don't really know what you're doing, can very often be unintentionally funny.

Bloodaxe only publish Benjamin Zephaniah because he's a bit cool and ghetto and has dreadlocks. I reckon deep down they'd like him much more if he didn't rhyme so much.

www.myspace.com/norwichfacetransplant

(First of all, I should probably make it clear that my views are not representative of The Management.)

I do agree that a poem can have perfect rhyme and scansion and still be a complete stinker.

Some common 'mistakes' are: to mangle the English language so that it fits into a rigid line (ending up like Yoda from Star Wars talking one does); ignoring that it's the 21st Century and writing in an archaic, flowery style; forgetting you're not the first person to fall in/out of love, see the sun rise and the birdies singing in the trees, realise that War Is A Bad Thing and god it's so depressing being a teenager, etc.

Unless it's done with originality, wit, style, true passion or genuine enthusiasm, of course. Artistic impression can win out over technical merit. (Though it's best to work at achieving both.)

don't bloodaxe publish tony harrison? he rhymes.

"The prospects for the present aren't too grand
when a swastika with NF (National Front)'s
sprayed on a grave, to which another hand
has added, in a reddish colour, CUNTS."

Ooh, I like that.

www.myspace.com/norwichfacetransplant

If it's long and thin it's a poem; if it's short and fat it's prose, as any fule kno.

I've done one too. I don't know if it's poetry or not, but I expect somebody will tell me.

http://www.abctales.com/story/stefano/one-night-stand

Mister Macjoyce writes well, but he sounds like a very angry young man. Anger, like alcohol, is bad for the heart and soul, though possibly good for the poetry.

I would not like to do Mister WilkyBarKid's job. I decide what I like in private and nobody can laugh if I'm not poetic enough. Poor Mister WilkyBar has to do it all in public.

Mister FTSE100 doth protest too much. I fear lack of confidence will stand in the way of his putting effort into developing his talent.

Mister Ewan works harder than anybody and if God rewards effort and perseverence, he will be King of the World one day.

No offence intended to any of the above persons. :-)

What about that 'chuck' person? I hate to say it but a lot of his stuff strikes me as kind of flippant.

Mister chuck is the angelic presence who lets his countenance shine on the work of others. Then he writes a Jolly Roger to show us all how it really should be done. But not too often, lest we all become discouraged.

I think I like this Stefano. He's an excellent writer, a discerning reader, and a wonderful addition to the board.

'Mister Ewan works harder than anybody and if God rewards effort and perseverence, he will be King of the World one day.'

I have it on good authority that He does not. In fact, He told me so himself.

'Never underestimate the power of fools in large groups.'

Graffito on the ceiling of a bar outside a USAF base in Turkey. (Toikee)

Well I write free verse that contains a lot of internal rhymes and some end of line rhymes. Most of it has rhythm, too, or at least a sense of syllabic evenness...

Come on!

It's the problem of trying to define the undefineable - what is art? what is poetry? - who can say? I still maintain that my piece isn't poetry because it was written without regard to rhythm or any kind of poetic structure. I can see that other pieces on ABC and elsewhere have a poetic quality without the rhyming element, but I wouldn't like to attempt a definition of poetry.