One of the best ways to get a handle on meter without bothering too much about syllables is writing limericks.
In a limerick, it's all about the feet. Lovely gallopy triple feet, anapaests or dactyls, doesn't matter which as long as there are 3 feet in the first and second lines, 2 in the third and fourth and back to 3 again on the fifth. Being completely silly and not worrying about perfection often leads to perfection anyway, or as close as little poems about rude bits will ever get.
In a limerick, it's all about the feet. Lovely gallopy triple feet, anapaests or dactyls, doesn't matter which as long as there are 3 feet in the first and second lines, 2 in the third and fourth and back to 3 again on the fifth. Being completely silly and not worrying about perfection often leads to perfection anyway, or as close as little poems about rude bits will ever get.
It could be worse