Free Verse, With Scattered Couplets
With a title like "Eating Poetry," we get the feeling from the start that what we're reading isn't going to fit into any conventional boxes of form and meter. And in this case, we're right on the mark. At first glance, the poem looks pretty neat, organized in only six regular stanzas with three lines in each. But when we look more closely, we notice that Strand isn't too keen on metrical patterns and cute couplet pairs.
In fact, there are only two instances of perfect end rhymes in the poem, including lines 13-14 ("understand" and "hand") and the final two, lines 17-18 ("bark" and "dark"). Both couplet pairs are kind of freely thrown in there in a way that isn't forced or severely prescribed. So, why so loosey-goosey, Mr. Strand? Why all the aversion to those pretty forms and meters?
For one thing, we know Strand is not your run-of-the-mill poet, interested in crafting lyrical sonnets. He did a lot of growing up in the '60s, so the guy is more interested in experimenting with different ideas and less interested in flexing his conventional metrical muscles. In "Eating Poetry" it's pretty clear to us that the surreal and dreamlike content is supposed to sound just as free as those fluctuating experiences of joy and darkness.
In a lot of ways, then, the poem's lines come to us just as freely as our own thoughts and experiences would. Without a prescribed meter, it also sounds rather natural and conversational, which again is part of Strand's notable style. (Check out "Calling Card" for more on that.)