Like any shift, it's hard at first, but you have trust that your ear can hear what fits your vision. I've got one of my first of this ilk posted at my website--www.amjuster.com--called "How We Got To Elmira." I wanted some of the sombernes of IP but also the more conventional conversational rhythms, so put an extra syllable in every line so it's slightly breaking in and out of IP. I've also put in some distant inexact rhymes because the piece is about almost making it but being frustrated--the perfection of exact rhymes (which generally I favor) wasn't right for this piece.
I usually recommend Andrew Hudgins' The Neverending for people looking for interesting contemporary IP, and it is, of course, hard not to recommend Howard Nemerov.
|