Free Verse's Curse

Free verse may need psychiatrist, Its aspirations you can’t trust, And transvestite will always be The truth is found in history Where poetry was always rhyme A test that stands through most of time. So just what is this ‘free verse curse’ That keeps it from becoming verse? It certainly can tell a tale As well as poetry’s detail But somehow rhyme seems to excel The best mere story tellers tell. Its imagery though can compare To poetry found anywhere. What dooms free verse’s claim to fame Is that ‘free verse’ is just a name. It lacks the power of rhyming phrase Whose music stays with you for days And rhythms too that match the beat Of pounding hearts and dancing feet, Forgets that before written word Man’s history in song was heard. Its pedigree still lacking worth Like Custer, floundering from birth. What really irritates the most, Is that free verse will often coast, And power that’s somehow not lost Is purchased at too cheap a cost, The author sleeping on his cot Forgets his dream of Camelot. I’m sure that some will be upset That I diss prose this way and yet What really most makes free verse wrong? It's not remembered like a song! Brian Johnston May 16, 2015 Poet’s Notes: Is it really so absurd to assert that really good prose is not poetry, is not verse, but still has value, and that it is a conceit to call it free verse and not simply poetic prose?