Spring Into Verse Day 11 -Rhyme, Reason and Soggy Beans

Rhyming verse is a challenge. Working with rhyme requires lots of reworking, rejigging,  and rewording. Rhyming verse requires lots of rereading aloud. It needs to sound right and look right. You don't want the words to appear forced. As children, we generally hear lots of rhyming verse, but writing it requires the inexperienced poet to use a command of vocabulary that is under development. 

When introducing student writers to rhyming verse, I frequently begin with rhyming couplets and eventually move to four line stanzas. But even this work requires lots of immersion and scaffolding for the probationary poet if we want this writing experience to produce successful outcomes. 

Personally, I love rhyming verse. I love its challenge and potential. I love its unique sound and its frequent connection to humor. So, today I share one of my favorite rhyming poems, Soggy Beans.

SOGGY BEANS

Auntie Bess I must confess
I didn’t eat my greens
When you got up to make dessert
I hid them in my jeans

I then walked home to my place
As quiet as a mouse
My pockets full of soggy beans
Until I reached my house

Well, that was many years ago
And I was just a kid
And still, I don’t like soggy beans
-I Never Ever Did!



Alan j Wright

Soundcloud reading of Soggy Beans Poem

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