7. Blank verse

The major problem I had with both blank verse and ballad is that according to the rules that were laid out for those forms of poetry ages ago - when the world was younger and more frivolous - they both ought to be written in an iambic pentameter. It is possible that one day I wake up in the middle of the night and I’ll shout ‘Eureka! The gods finally decided that it is the time to let me understand iambic pentameter. At last!’ And then I sit in my chair – as I am in fact doing right now – and instead of explaining that am a complete moron and making up excuses, I will actually become a proper descendent of Shakespeare and produce tons of stuff that will make future generations of kids smash their virtual, laser pens and break up in tears. Unless that happens, I don’t think I will ever be able to produce anything close to iambic pentameter.
At the end of the day I decided to go with blank verse and represent contemporary epic speech; which could be also viewed as a conversation on the phone. I am sure that the epic speech today can be as epic on the phone or on skype; the medium is always secondary to the content. I am not going to argue that the ‘I’ in the poem delivers an actual dramatic speech in a sense it was understood hundreds of years ago. Although under the surface of humour there is quite sad and subversive undertone. Wherever you go, whatever you do, being truly faithful to yourself is yet another obstacle in a way of communication. Especially on the first date.
I think the whole idea of speech in poetry is quite fascinating. The poem is always a voice. Creating speeches within the poems is therefore a little bit like putting two cotes on. If it’s really cold then it’s perfectly justified but when the weather gets warmer you’ll feel terribly sweaty; not even mentioning the fact that two coats will make you walk like a disabled penguin. I guess the key to the successful speech within the frame of the poem is to accentuate the deliberation in which it is represented, just enough to highlight the specific elements of the spoken language, but not as much as to make it an actual spoken language (does it make sense? It does for me). I am a little bit afraid that I overdid on that last thing and that my poem is a bit too realistic.