A Rose by any other Name

In 6th grade, we did a poetry study... we must have been writing haikus and trying different styles of writing. Somewhere in there, I decided to put together a book of all the words that rhyme with -ade, -ent, -al, etc... I really thought I could achieve a comprehensive book of all the words that rhymed with every ending any word could have. I had pages and pages of these lists. I left enough room (about 3 lines) for every ending... you know, in case there were other words I thought of that would fit. Eventually, I realized that NOT ONLY were there more endings that I could possibly find, but also there were an infinite number of words to fill each list. I abandoned the project.

There was a time when I enjoyed writing poetry. I even got a poem in the school newsletter in 6th grade. It was about Thanksgiving dinner and it went something like "mashed potatoes, turkey, gravy; and the jello, nice and wavy." Um, wavy? I remember being really pleased with myself about that line.

In High School, we had to write a Canterbury Tales type travel poem. The only line I can remember from that one was "3 well-hipped girls" (I think I had us riding in the backseat of a car, or something.)

In College, my poems often went horribly wrong. They'd start out all serious and the last line would be a punch line. I tried to write sad, pathetic poems about love lost, and they'd end up with lines like "get too near the edge and I'll give you a shove." (I am sure it rhymed with "love".)

I think maybe I should see what's in my poetry well... and just let the goofy fly out onto the page. Could be fun as it used to be!