Free Verse, by Matt Harvey
Tuesday, July 2, 2013 at 1:21PM
Peter Neary-Chaplin in Books, Matt Harvey, Poems, creative writing, ministry of words, new poetry, poetry

I spoke some free verse to a friend of mine.
She said, "What's that?" I said, "That? That's free verse."
"I bet it is," she said. "I've heard that line
before. You want to get inside my purse."
"No, honestly," I said, "the verse was free.
It didn't rhyme and neither did it scan."
"So what's the catch?" she asked. "And what's the fee?"
"Trust me," I said, "I'm not that sort of man."
"Oh yeah?" she said. I said, "Look let's forget it."
"Listen," she said, "I'm not born yesterday.
You want something. But you're not going to get it.
I see the sneaky game you're trying to play.
I know my rights. Nothing in life's for free."
So I gave in. And charged her 50p.

 

Matt Harvey, from The Hole in The Sum Of My Parts

Article originally appeared on freelance, free-range writing (http://www.ministryofwords.com/).
See website for complete article licensing information.