Are You a Rhyming Rebel? Try Free Verse!

Catch some attention with organic and unconstrained poetry!

Poetry has a lot of rules; but it doesn't have to! It's actually what makes writing it so great: writing can simply be a cathartic experience for anyone to enjoy. Based on how you feel when creating it, you can take poetry into all sorts of interesting directions. One of these fantastic creative outlets is free verse poetry—a form of writing that doesn't require a consistent rhyming scheme, metric, or form! Whether you are a moody anti-institutionalist, or creative savant, this is the style for you. Let's take a look at how to create it!

1. Get in touch with your inner tortured artist

I won't say that you actually have to be a tortured artist to create great works of art, but honestly, that might be the play. However, if you don't feel like weeping over a literary canvas as you eat ramen noodles for the 45th time in a row, it can still be extremely valuable to get in touch with your current state of emotions. As you start writing poetry, you will need a lot of inspiration and yes, feelings, to direct your language into visual phrases that mimic how you feel.

For example, let's say you just lost that killer job you worked so hard to get. I know how that goes, I also can't stop browsing TikTok. You may feel depressed, blue, sad, or even angry (that r/antiwork meme was funny—Jane from HR—and you know it). Regardless, these are great feelings to have. Anytime you are emotionally heightened, you are gifted with feelings that you want your language to convey: the perfect time to find words that reflect them. Look inside yourself before you even pick up the pen, and decide what feelings you want to express, before even beginning the writing itself.

A lot of the time, you may not immediately know the exact words you wish to write, but utilizing authentic emotions can be a powerful tool to channel language, and keep it passionately charged! Who says you can't have your cake and eat it too?

2. Your poem is worth 1000 visual words

I'm not saying any starch-collared intellectuals reading your poetry will turn their noses up at a manuscript that doesn't boast visual and descriptive language, but there's like what, ten of them out there? For the rest of us (especially after discovering six-second internet videos...I miss you, Vine), capturing attention with vibrant imagery, imaginative metaphors and stupendous similes is one of the best ways to retain your audience. If your free-verse reads like the technical manual included with my Crock Pot, then you're doing something wrong.

The good news is that this doesn't have to happen all at once: writing is a marathon, not a sprint. Write boring at first! Get the content onto the page! Something is always better than nothing, and you can always read through it at a later date to inject your choice of language and all those auspicious alliterations you've set your heart on. Ultimately though, it's really important to ensure that whatever you write about, it tells a story, ensnares the attention of your readers, and works together in tandem with any themes or overall purpose that you've included.

3. No way, cliché

So you're forty pages deep into writing your magnum opus about bad break-ups, "The Dagger Wounds Pain Me," and wondering why no one will give your well-written masterpiece the time of day? It's possible that you may not be examining a topic that everyone has interest in. Sad as it is to say, they may have already seen enough texts brimming with self-loathing and dramatic ironies. I am very guilty of this myself, and if you ever meet anyone claiming to spout profound creativity all the time, they are most certainly wrong. Unique creativity is one of the hardest things to manifest as a writer. So, what do we do? We must diagnose why an audience might not be interested in our poetry. What could cause interest to wane?

Let's think about this a bit: what happens when you, yourself, aren't interested in something? Chances are it's because you've experienced it before in some manner. Not interested in Sushi? You've probably had it too much for lunch. Not interested in the latest reality dating show? I'm sure it's because you've seen enough for several lifetimes already, right? If you want to provoke your readers' interest, give them something new! Combine genres, or examine them in a new light! If you present an audience with unique ideas that they haven't encountered yet, curiosity will keep readers engaged to the very last sentence!

And I think that's all I have to help you craft some epic free-verse poetry right now! Go with your heart, and write what speaks to you: there's so many wonderful things to explore and inspire others about. Most importantly, here's to your next free verse adventure!

Like what you've read? Be sure to check out my entire poetry collection at https://allpoetry.com/Chris_Dyrland-Marquis, or my newest love poetry book, Bitter Blossom Thunderclouds on the Apple iBook store! You can also see all of my available texts here on the site's "Available Books" section.

Yours,

Christopher Dyrland-Marquis