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Welcome to But Does it Rhyme?
We're a small, but hopefully growing, band of poets who like to talk about our craft and share what we've written. We'll highlight favorite poets, review new books, and explore the process of writing poetry from inspiration to conclusion. (We might venture into essays and short fiction, too.) We hope you'll like our blog — and contribute your own thought and poems.

Sally Zakariya, Poetry Editor
Richer Resources Publications

Charan Sue Wollard (LivermoreLit)
Kevin Taylor (Poet-ch'i)
Sherry Weaver Smith
(SherrysKnowledgeQuest)

books
Richer Resources Publications

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What’s A Poem For?

There’s no right answer—that is, any one of a hundred answers can be right. But I like what poet Sebastian Matthews said in an interview for Spartanburg Magazine. Unfortunately, the interview is no longer available online, but here’s Matthews’ answer to the double-barreled question, What must a poem do? How does it work on the reader?

It must have sufficient energy to allow the reader to move through it; ample music and imagery to get him to return to the page and read it aloud; and enough wisdom or insight to make her ponder it as she heads back out into the day. I want him to be ensnared by the poem so that he can't help but bring it with him to the next thing. Ideally, she would end up at a party of like-minded souls and read the poem to her friends, who will read poems to her in return. Or he'll post it on his blog, or type it out in an e-mail to a friend, or send it by post as a card or a letter. Or write out a few lines in her notebook, or use a line in a painting or a collage. Maybe he'll write a poem as a reply, which as Geoff Dyer once said, is the real critical response: a lineage of readers and writers communicating through this dialogue. 

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Eavesdropping

A snatch of conversation … a message scrawled on a rest room wall … found words can be good poem starters. Examples:

• Reclaim yourself.
• The world is so broken, so broken.
• Sometimes the best husband is an ex-husband.
• I used to know where wild strawberries grow.
• Art won’t hurt you.
• Life is a war against chaos.ove to see them.

Overhearing stuff like this is why it’s good to keep a little notebook handy.—S.Z.,

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What Are You Writing?

Why should we get all the bylines? Submit your latest poem—just one for now—and we’ll publish the poems we like best in an upcoming blog post. Simultaneous submissions are fine, but please let us know if the poem is accepted or published elsewhere. Send your poem, plus a few lines about yourself, in the body of an e-mail message to:

            poetryeditor@RicherResourcesPublications.com