Poetry and Prose

Traditional poetry has rhyme and metre Which determines the way it is composed These features make it a simple matter In distinguishing such poetry from prose A lot of writing now is in free verse Where the main focus is on the content The thing that now really matters the most Is true capture of the poet's intent Some free verse strive for a sense of metre By carefully managing line layout Some focus on painting a word picture For that's what their poetry is all about Prose rich in sentiment and imagery Can also be rewritten as free verse Would it then be described as prose poetry Or should it be labelled poetic prose What new poetry forms will the future grow It's time alone that will give the answer For poets may come and poets may go But poetry shall continue forever As a child, growing up, most of the poems I learned at school were of the traditional type. Memorizing and reciting them, which I enjoyed, were part of the learning exercise. Free verse, a modern form of poetry, was a new experience for me. Over the years, I jotted down some of my thoughts on things, especially, on Nature topics. I always considered such writings to be prose. It was only after I learned of free verse, that I saw that they could also be viewed as poetry with a slight variation in the line layout to create a sense of metre. I referred to such writing as poetic prose and labelled some of my earlier poems as such.