"The Education of a Poet" by Leslie Monsour

“Poetry is the rhythmical creation of beauty in words.” ~Edgar Allan Poe

We haven’t looked at a structured or obviously rhyming poem in awhile and since it’s still National Poetry Month I think it’s a good time to look at what I call in very technical terms, "a poemy poem." A "poemy poem" is what when you were in middle school you thought all poems were like. Then in high school you discover poems don’t have to always rhyme or count syllables and you never look back. It’s easy to get caught up in the freedom of what poetry can also be that it’s easy to ignore or even write off as elementary the poems that stick with tradition. So today in honor of Poetry Month (though it’s not what I usually gravitate towards) we look at a syllabic piece (fixed syllables per line) that reminds that it takes more than just line breaks. It’s deliberate language that transforms everyday words into a poem.

The Education of a Poet
by Leslie Monsour

Her pencil poised, she's ready to create,
Then listens to her mind's perverse debate
On whether what she does serves any use;
And that is all she needs for an excuse
To spend all afternoon and half the night
Enjoying poems other people write.

Found at: http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poem/178169