Whining about Rhyming

By: Damien Gentry

When in elementary school, rhyming seems so simple and fun.  Run.  Done.  Ton.  Pun.  But when writing poetry, it becomes clear just how difficult it is to rhyme well.  Frost makes it look so easy, but it’s hard to rhyme, make it seem effortless and make it contribute to that epic meter that transforms simple speaking into an art form.  Your rhymes come out sounding trite, forced or worse, cliché.  No way!  How to combat this?  Well, first don’t rearrange sentences in order to put the rhyming word on the end of the line.  That only makes your poem sound more unnatural.  Here is an example: 

Pollen and daffodils are in my yard. 

My face reflects in the tarn. 

When we go to churches. 

It is I who the preacher hurts. 

Instead, rearrange it to a more natural sound. 

Dr. Kwak asks where it hurts. 

I flash to the cold church. 

Another tip is to stop grabbing the low-hanging fruit of simple rhymes we hear all the time (fire/desire, fight/right and tall/fall).  Broaden your vocabulary.  That isn’t to say that easy rhymes are a death sentence, they just shouldn’t be your sole reliance.  Play around a bit.  But still be sensible with your word choice.  You have to make a poem flow; you can’t just chuck rhymes at the wall so long as they stick. I once knew a guy named Rick.  Why did I suddenly bring him up?  He rhymes.  If I want to include a rhyme, I must find a way to make it fit into the poem, not stick out like a sore thumb.  Boy, would I look quite dumb!  Also, you don’t have to follow a set rhyme scheme.  Even sonnets have varying ways to rhyme.  And if those ways don’t work, you can still make your own.  I commend you for going down the difficult road of rhyme.  May your efforts be remembered for all time.