Caught in the net

I appreciate Free Verse after reading poems by
T. S. Eliot, Harold Hart Crane and Walt Whitman.
My favourite poems in this genre are:

The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock
To Brooklyn Bridge
Leaves of Grass

However, structured poetry as defined as a consistent
metrical pattern has become my forte. Let it be
known though, I strike a happy balance by writing
both structured and unstructured poetry.
In so doing, I can say that I have not experienced a
writer’s block even though I have been doing this
creative writing seriously since 1980.

Free Verse is often described as an unrhymed line
without a consistent metrical pattern. In Free Verse,
the term, Unit applies to Stanza and Line refers to Verse.
According to the compliers of Wikipedia, Free Verse is
recognized as poetry by virtue of its complex patterns
of one thing or another that readers can recognize to be
part of a logical whole. This encyclopedia group, sees
Free Verse as having three major layers:

1. The free iambic verse which poets like T. S. Eliot
and Harold Hart Crane have mastered.

2. The Cadenced Verse as in the poems of Walt Whitman

3. Free Verse proper where discrepancies and variations
of meter run the gamut or take centre stage.

I agree with others that Free Verse of the highest caliber
must be beautifully rhythmic, and must flow smoothly
within a rich and vibrant imagery. Free Verse is like
“apple pie” or “pumpkin pie” in the American Diaspora,
I venture to say. It makes a bold statement, along
democratic ideals. Therefore, it can be viewed as the
great emancipator and liberator of the human soul as
reflected in this poetic genre.

I’m proud of my West Indian and Barbadian roots also of
my educational attainment from both the British, Canadian
and American cultures in that order. This being said,
I have grown to appreciate to the fullest, the poetry genres
from the Old World and New World. I don’t see either one
as being superior over the other. They both continue to enrich
the literary landscape of our times with their varying
paradigms, we can for sure, appreciate to the fullest.

Sample poems

* Caught in the Net
* Flying Fish
* Hidden Agenda
* No Friendly Sky Anymore
* Pohutukawa
* Simple Kiwi Pleasures
* The Daffodils
* The Flying Spot
* The Tribal Beat of Distant Drums
* Wrinkles

Your comments on this thread are greatly appreciated.