RHYME Poem: The shape of a good poem, by Meron McCardle

s the shape of my boredom the shape of a good poem?
Are the curves of the electric blue Prime bottle
that I bought from the corner store the other day
enough to excite your imagination?

Do the pencils strewn across the bed,
amongst a small bottle of hand sanitiser
and a beanie constitute quality?
Would orange juice reconstitute quality?
What about silk sheets? Or a Mazerati?
Is content king?
Or is it form?

Do you need a fluctuation of phrase
flinging itself across the page?
Does the length of the line meddle in the mental load
of fathoming a prime pick? A premium piece of prose?
Is it the ephemeral moment when words are left unspoken
in the right order that resonates with the rung out?
Does ringing out, being out, outting oneself
over time undermine or refine the rhyme?

Do you get me this time?
It’s important you do, see, you don’t wanna be the joker
that misunderstands me
My words, my poetry
Because my nonsense it’s musical
If you can fuse it all into your tiny skull

I don’t really mean that, verse, phrase
It’s all subjective and none of it pays
Sometimes, if you’re lucky, you’ll get a little praise

Will you give that to me today?
No? Not yet?
It’s ok, all I have is time
trapped in this place without a dime to my frame
I live in shame
of the sad poems I bag knowing
I’ll never have fame
stop me now
put me out of my misery
let me put you out of yours
It’s sore to see myself fall so far
this nonsense has overtaken my painstaking
words
I’ve heard
a rhyme to my name so I rhyme it’s now a game to see how far I can go
across oceans across seas
my words carry me
to corners of this globe
like Glasgow, let me know
if you’re bored yet
I’m copping out now
see how I drop the ball, I appal all with
my small minded rhyme
I’ve used it again, I’m sorry
for the pain
I’ve done to your eardrums
It can’t be as fun for you as it is for me
to be this silly with the tone
of the phone I’m getting a call from home to stop the drone of my voice
now
right now
cow
show (that’s show pronounced show to rhyme with cow)
how, you may ask does one get this good at the task of speaking
Listening to Speak Now Taylor Swift
Dance al – bum

Does this pass the inspection
of a class you expected
in poetry
No?
Can I blame you not to
tow the line is this my sign
to end it before you ask me to resign
Fine.

Wait, maybe there’s still time
to save myself and my rhyme
oop, there I go, time and rhyme, again
I promise I’ll refrain
from now on
and plow on from this place to that
remind me where I was at
Oh yes
Is this a good poem?
Or nat?
Or not? Is this a good poem or not?