"rhyme is seen as anachronistic by most poets"

[shemthepenman]

All my cassette tapes work still, older ones than that one. Only the players sometimes rip them up. So I got a new player. And, I think mostly people just don't know how to write rhyming poetry so they don't like to read other people who can.

---

Plus, Bleach always had a kind of warped, muddy sound to it.

you must have kept them mint, because all my tapes sound like dog shit.
i love bleach. one of the best albums ever recorded, in my opinion. i could listen to it played through a potato.

i remember, when i was about 10-11, the teacher told us poetry didn't have to rhyme. and, i remember being cynical about this proposition for the very reason you just mentioned. it sounded like the kind of thing someone would say to make us feel better about writing crap poetry; or making it easier to swallow - poetry lite. like, 'there is such a thing as emotional intelligence'* was the teachers way of making the thick kids feel less thick. but we all knew what they meant. the teacher might as well have given us a big nod and a wink.
obviously this was the thinking of a child, but it is hard to shake the idea that rhyming poetry is 'proper' poetry. and let's face it, even if it is out of favour, most people still see it, and formally structured poetry, as the standard that one can transcend but not ignore. like for example, abstract painting. one of the many defences of, say, picasso is that he could 'really' paint. which although may have done picasso some good, it doesn't lend much credibility to the art form itself. it isn't the same now, of course. the art world doesn't seem to care about whether someone can actually draw or not. but, in a populist sense, this argument still carries weight. and, it is the same for writing. poetry is poetry, and most people tolerate this self-indulgence. but, what is really taken seriously is the novel or prose. i heard a few years back germaine greer reviewing Bob Dylan's biography, and she remarked something like 'it was a relief to see that he could actually write'. . . as if his lyrics weren't enough.
therefore, my view is, fuck rhyming if it's going to lord it over everything else. and the kickback is justified. it isn't undermining rhyming, but rather undermining the principle that rhyming and structure are the here-and-forever measure of quality. or something or other. i am tired, bored, and tired again.



*this term wasn't about when i was at school, but you get the point.