On the Sonnet Form
The tight restrictions of the sonnet form
Can wring creative verse from arid minds.
Restrictions of this sort are not the norm,
But efforts to fit in repay in kind.
The five iambs, 3 stanzas and a twist
Are scaffolding 'pon which to hang a thought.
When of that structure you have got the gist,
The verse may come surprisingly unsought.
A picture frame -- the form -- may grace the verse
With ordered beauty otherwise unfound,
A boundary against the tendency
To uncontrolled and rambling words unsound.
It might be better to constrain your verse
Than ramble on and on -- the poet's curse.
-- c. 2005
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