Time for rhyme
From Jayne Osborn Sir: Oh, what unbounded joy! I could not contain my excitement on reading your leading article 'Proper poems' (23 Septem- ber) At last, at last . . . someone with clout to join Auberon Waugh, and little me, in the crusade against the 'reams of unbeliev- able bilge' that masquerade as poetry! I couldn't have put it better myself, or maybe I could: how about unintelligible, rhyme- less, metreless crap?
Recently I ran a couple of workshops on rhyming poetry at the National Association of Writers' Groups' Annual Festival of Writing. Some people were amazed to see such a thing on offer, as it has not been fashionable for so long. Several years ago I formed 'Partners In Rhyme', three of us who read our own work to many groups, charities, hospitals and schools, etc. Our audiences frequently insist that they dislike modern free verse on the grounds that it doesn't make sense.
At a reading by a well-known poet I over- heard him being asked why he didn't write poems that rhyme. His reply? 'I tried it once, but it was too hard.' If anyone was looking for an explanation for the perpetua- tion of modern poetry that isn't 'any bloody good', I think that just about sums it up.
Jayne Osborn
Wellingborough, Northamptonshire
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