I should have thanked Julie for her suggestions, although neither of them work very well. I apologize for having such a defensive reaction to the comments, but I was looking for guidance, not criticism for being a pedant.
I do believe that what I said is true: A line of iambic pentameter must have at least five syllables, evenly spaced, that can either be stressed or take what I call a "theoretical" stress. If there are only four syllables which can reasonably be stressed, then that is tetrameter. The problem, of course, is that satisfying the meter in all of the lines can make a poem sound odd or stilted.
I'll be posting the poem on Saturday on the Metrical board. It will be interesting to see people's reactions.
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