Writing in Verse

The most frustrating part of this course for me was learning to write in verse.  The iambic pentameter exercises were really difficult for me and I felt like I could never tell the difference between a stressed and unstressed syllable.  Despite speaking out loud when writing or reading verse, there was something about it that continually tripped me up.

Prior to this course, I don't think I appreciated how much effort it takes for poets who write in verse to do so.  It is an extremely mathematical and precise process that requires a lot of effort.  Also, poets like John Keats who wrote lengthy poems needed to be successful at both verse and imagery.  It is easy to see why iambic pentameter has fallen out of favor with poets. 

Although I was reluctant to learn iambic pentameter, it has made me much more aware of how the individual words in my poems sound, instead of just the flow of the poem as a whole.  Below is my attempt at writing in verse.

Neon vacancy signs line the broken boardwalk
A town that was lively is now wrought with empty shops
The ocean’s still there, where else it could go?
A lonely town, its nightlife dressed with tired bars
Out near the water, the rakers still rake the beach
This is their home, for bad or worse, they’ll never leave
Hold out hope for a distant past they still recall
Live their nights trading tired stories in old bars
Their deaths will be marked by the crashing of the waves