By Daniel Paiz

Different poetic structures can denote different meanings. Haikus can deliver a lot of meaning in three lines. Rhymes can utilize 16 lines to tell a story or deliver a particular message. Slam poetry often can have a lesson or takeaway from a story given. Poetry in general is determined by line length, white space, and line/stanza breaks as much as the content itself.

It oddly has its own set of rules and why said rules are expected and/or encouraged to be broken. As you might be able to tell by now, I am not a traditional poet. Deciphering meaning out of traditional poetry is about as agreed upon as how you interpret music. However, let’s take a crack at the ivory tower’s expectations surrounding poetry.

Bender of Rules

(Condensation),

 

The dampening of hopes and dreams,

Disjointed as it may seem it’s resignation.

It is

the hot air released not out of balloons or bovine but,

 

The cold, fickle, Commons tragedy where

Musketeer mentality is unsheathed.

Where particular masks capture

The bullets of destruction set up to

Ravage

Infect

Kill

 

Normalcy, preparedness, greed, realization of comfort, Neanderthal-like consumption,

That which has only begun to become acknowledged,

and accepted.

The point of all of this preparation is to distance yourself from

the undeniable fact:

What you think will happen to you will,

 

because following the rules is what incarcerated us in our selected cells in the first place.