She Will Have Her Way

I loved Chuck's comment too, especially because that is exactly what I intended (see comment below). Actually, Chuck, I meant 'humanity', though I immediately recognized the double meaning, which made me smile and worked for me in a tongue in cheek sort of way. Thanks for stopping by, both of you. Deelilah

This poem was submitted to the design a meter contest. I was instructed to put the explanation here as it would not fit in the extra comment section in the posting. So here it is. I wrote the poem first in strict 10 foot meter, trying, ideally, for iambic pentameter. This sets up a nice rhythm to start. You can use, and I have used both, no rhyme or end rhyme to start. I then take out all the punctuation and turn it into a free-form verse. Rhyme, if any, turns into a random, mostly internal rhyme. During the design process, the poem looked like this: She will have her way, no matter what men feel or say or do. She will have her way. She laughs in the face of such arrogance— just a hungry pile of atoms, child’s play. When at winter she speaks, her breath blowing cold, frail ones fold their arms in truthful terror, begging for warmth and spring’s kind showing. Godspeed the lady in summer’s mirror. Nature will have her way. Sometimes a poem begs to be freed up in this manner; and sometimes it likes to remain in the classic form. The hardest thing about this exercise was to keep it at 20 or less lines. Does it work? I ask you to read Chuck's comment above. Thank you for your consideration. Deelilah (Donna Holberg)