Ruthless Rhyme

Ruthless Rhyme

Ruthless rhymes were created by Harry Graham. If you haven't met them before, and enjoy things that are deplorably funny but not in the best possible taste, do please seek out his work. (My favourite is the one about little Leonie.) It's not that easy to write a poem about death that's funny without being offensive. How about this one:

Out in the Wash

When spouse and clothes got in a tangle
They went together through the mangle.
The faithless rat I did not grieve -
Still flatter, but can't now deceive.

Ruthless rhymes are always written in rhyming couplets - usually two of them, but occasionally more.

Pasted from <http://volecentral.co.uk/vf/fun.htm#Ruthless%20Rhyme>

Thanks to Bob Newman for his wonderful Volecentral resource site.

The link below will lead you to a fine selection of poems by

By Jocelyn Henry Clive 'Harry' Graham who just became on of my favorite poets. 

http://www.gutenberg.org/browse/authors/g#a37231

Here are a couple of examples of his work.

Necessity

LATE last night I slew my wife,

Stretched her on the parquet flooring;

I was loath to take her life,

But I had to stop her snoring.

The Perils of Obesity

YESTERDAY my gun exploded

When I thought it wasn't loaded;

Near my wife I pressed the trigger,

Chipped a fragment off her figure;

'Course I'm sorry, and all that,

But she shouldn't be so fat.

My example poem

Laundry Mix     ( Example of Ruthless Rhyme)

Into the wash I threw the cat

and Mom said I ought not do that.

But still a load of underwear

feels nice when coated with cat hair.

© Lawrencealot - April 11, 2024

Essence

Stanzaic, consisting of any number of couplets

Isosyllabic, Hexasyllabic lines

Rhyme Pattern: xbxcxa xbacxa, where b and c are interlaced rhyme, AND c is optional.

      Note: The b and c rhymes can be found on any syllables.

• Essence is a rhyming hexasyllabic couplet with internal rhyme with a twist. Normally in English prosody "internal rhyme" refers to a word within the line rhyming with the end word of that line or the end word of the previous line. However in this verse form internal rhyme refers to words from somewhere within the line rhyming internally within the next line, it could be 1 or 2 rhymes. (This could be tricky in only 6 short syllables.) Found at ShadowPoetry.com and attributed to Emily Romano, published in P.O.E.T. magazine in 1981.
  The essence is:
• stanzaic, written in any number of couplets.
• syllabic, hexasyllabic lines.
• end rhymed as well as interlaced rhyme. x b x x c a b x c x x a The b and c interlaced rhymes may be placed in any position within the lines, the c rhyme is optional.

Two short lines with end rhyme
sort within, tend to time.
------Judi Van Gorder

Pasted from <http://www.poetrymagnumopus.com/index.php?/topic/1195-found-at-shadow-poetry/>

My great thanks to Judi of PMO, for the above.

II made one change in the description.  Instead of referring to the b and c rhymes as internal rhyme, I scalled them interlaced rhyme.

Rhyming a word in the middle of one line with a word in the middle of another is called interlaced rhyme.

Here, thanks to Bob Newman of Volecentral, is the most definitive list of rhyme types I have ever encountered.   http://www.volecentral.co.uk/vf/rhyme.htm

My  Example Poem

Bye Bye,  Bad Boy      (Essence)

Next time you reel me in

to climb and feel and sin,

I plan to take to bed

a man to slake instead.

© Lawrencealot - Thanksgiving day 2013

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Reverse Word

This form was invented by  Walter E. Ferguson III.  aka, Thunder_Speech

The ONLY requirement of this form, is that you use reverse words where ever you might otherwise choose to use rhyme.  Instead of rhyming, the last words of the lines are spelled backwards (reversed) where rhymes would be.

Example Poem

Non-Olympic swimmer

I thought I'd swim a single loop

before I pulled the plug.

I jumped into our swimming pool

and promptly took a gulp.

I thought to myself "damn and rats"

and jumped out on my tarp.

I'll never be a swimming star,

while sitting on my prat.

© Lawrencealot - Septermber 26, 2012

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