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SESSION THREE
Wednesday, November 11th, 2025
This session will be on the Free Verse form.

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FREE VERSE

Because its unrhymed without a set meter or syllable count, the Free Verse is considered the most versatile poetic forms, but to be powerfully effective, t must flow smoothly and is NOT a narrative or prose form … it must have a poetic voice, spoken with rhythmic word-flow, with thoughts, feelings,and expressions grouped into verses, with appropriate line-breaks and enjambments.

“Properly” composed Free Verse poetry will display correct grammar, including capitalization and punctuation … in other words,composed in such a way that any reader can follow and understand what the author intends and wants them to grasp in rhythm, speed, mood, inference of thought, feeling,, mean9ing, and emotional timbre (‘tambor’ – voice quality, color, tone color, tonality, resonance, etc.

The heartbeat of Free Verse is imagery, metaphor, poetic syntax, and poetic voice, well-placed line-breaks and smooth enjambments.
“Iambics” work well with Free Verse, too.
There is no limit to lines or verses, topic or theme, mood, or otherwise.

(Free Verse example by one of my graduate students: her last name is coincidental … no relation.)

COLOURS OF LOVE

“What do you think
when you look at me,”
you ask?

All I can do is stare,
teary-eyed,
speechless,
trying desperately
to find adequate words
in describing
such a beautiful life-form
standing before me.

“I see colors of love,
as I have never
seen them before,”
I finally say.

“I see tangerine hues …
fiery reds of new dawns;
saffron of rising moons
against star-sparkled
midnight blue
of nighttime skies.

I see golden suns,
silver glints dancing
in softly beckoning eyes
of …
fervent lovers.

I see rainbows,
flowers – I see, colors
laid at my feet
when kismet
first painted
You ~
into my lonely
black ’n white world.”

Dorina Jolene Jenkins
22 Nov 2012

(a simple example Free Verse of mine … a bit long, but a quick and lasting educational study)

“ETERNAL SPRING, BELOVED SWEETHEART”
.-·~•’˜§˜’•~·-·
Our Winter’s here,
stealing away my heat,
with her cold, crisp breath.
Your cornsilk, windblown hair
like glowing streamers behind you,
and you’ll always be my heart’s warmth.
-·~••~·-
Summertimes …
you ever come to me,
smiling like a happy innocent child,
arms spread wide, ready to dance
and twirl through my nights,
to drag me down to water’s edge,
wearing little else than your
“come and get me” eyes.
-·~••~·-
Except, this time, I’m not going;
you’re not taking me by the hand anymore.
I’m just going to sit here by the pond,
beside the others that have gone,
and miss you now, too.
-·~••~·-
I’ll listen to the birds,
the frogs — wind whisp’ring softly
through the reeds,
the scent of wet pine …
glorious sensations of Your warmth,
watching the sun drop quickly.
-·~••~·-
Our Autumn came …
I’ve never really been afraid of the dark;
but, I am afraid of empty.
That is what your leaving has left me;
and, I knew you would leave.
You always tried,
even when I refused to let you go.
-·~••~·-
You’ve packed your apple green eyes
and gone, now.
So, I’ll have to sit on the edge
of this perpetual-winter,
alone and shivering,
trying to cover this hole in my heart,
so I won’t freeze from the inside-out.
-·~••~·-
Meanwhile, I count the hours,
the days, my life away …
until each buttercup returns,
renewing eternal hope,
as they did in Spring, with Us.
-·~••~·-
I feel the chill as our seasons
slip off my shoulders…
away into history.
-·~••~·-
Tonight, and all to come,
I’m going to wrap your gentle,
loving memory around me
and try to keep from losing your heat,
I’ve spent our time gathering into my soul.
-·~••~·-
Then, I’ll turn my collar up
and swear-off dancing beside the pond.
-·~••~·-
Soft, salty tears overflow chapped cheeks,
gathering at the corner of my lips
await you to taste them,
to kiss them away,
but, there is only me, now …
aching, hoping, longing,
in solemn remembrance
of our….
Eternal Spring, Beloved~Sweetheart
.-·~•’˜§˜’•~·-·

-·~• Richard W. Jenkins •~·-
©2016

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We’ve covered a considerable bit, some of which you may already know and are merely brushing-up, while others are altogether new in the finer details of the Free Verse form.

Questions or comments? Make them here so we can all share, or if necessary, message me anytime and I’ll get back with you asap.

Lastly, write your own Free Verse poem from what you’ve learned so far. It can be about anything you conceive of. We can share them together next session and sort out anything … above all, “Enjoy!”

We’ll see ya after tomorrow’s lesson …’til then, “Keep feeeversing!” ✍🏼