Just larkin' about, and playin' with rhyme
alone in the gloom, at the edge of the zone,
for regular rhyme can be rather tame.
Though purists despair, let's persist with this tune.
I disdain same-old-same for something sublime;
near-rhyme Nirvana's the meme I would claim.
Aha! Half a rhyme! The dog's found a bone!
Eschew it or chew it? My choice alone.
The poet's at best who departs from himself.
It gives you a fillip to know that you differ;
be blind to the bland that's often on offer;
depart from home shores, if you would find wealth.
|
Author Notes
Philip Larkin (1922-1985) was an English poet. He was offered, but declined, the position of Poet Laureate in 1984, following the death of Sir John Betjeman.
His poems are replete with near rhymes, slant rhymes, proximate rhymes, or whatever you'd like to call them.
He is reputed to have said: "Originality is being different from oneself, not others".
|
|
