Michael, so do I take it that you also reject Edna St Vincent Millay's "Counting-Out Rhyme"?
Counting-Out Rhyme
Silver bark of beech, and sallow
Bark of yellow birch and yellow
Twig of willow.
Stripe of green in moosewood maple,
Colour seen in leaf of apple,
Bark of popple.
Wood of popple pale as moonbeam,
Wood of oak for yoke and barn-beam,
Wood of hornbeam.
Silver bark of beech, and hollow
Stem of elder, tall and yellow
Twig of willow.
KEB
PS - I tried to do one of these poems once, using the names of towns in the Hudson River Valley, where I spent much of my childhood. The names alone have a really iconic feel to me; I probably learned to read on their town signs. I spent weeks looking at the map, deciding which names were right and sounded right, and changing the order according to all sorts of criteria. The sounds and the rhythm are incredibly important in these, and I think Robert Francis got it right with his feminine endings. My poem has never been a complete success, and not surprisingly the main issue has been finding a title strong enough to set the piece up. Currently it's called "I See the Hudson River," which is also the first line of a song I made up when I was four.
PPS - more food for thought:
Kristin Thomas Spam Poetry