Having written quite a few songs and song lyrics during my lifetime, I tend to look for the same things in poems that I look for in song lyrics. I like a well crafted rhyme. I like a line which has an inherently musical feel to it. Consequently, I don't generally like the form of poetry known as "free verse". Saying that poetry is "free" of the need for some type of formalized structure (traditionally pertaining to such matters as rhythm and rhyme) seems to me to be similar to saying that music is "free" of the need for melody, harmony and rhythm, or that fictional literature is "free" of the need for an intelligible story.

     Music which sounds chaotic and undisciplined tends to be relatively inaccessible to the vast majority of listeners. The music of John Cage and others who have created music in a similar vein could be described in such a manner. Such music may be interesting from an academic point of view, but there's a good reason why such music never became very popular among members of the general public. Generally speaking, such music lacks the ability to engage the listener. Occasionally, as in the case of certain music soundtracks for movies, atonal music with an extremely unusual time signature or no time signature at all can serve a purpose when it's played in the background in order to create a sonic texture to complement the scene, but such music is very limited in its appeal.

     The same principle applies to poetry, it seems to me. If a piece of writing has no formal structure to distinguish it from prose (apart from the artsy manner in which the typesetter places the text on the page), then why not just be honest and call it prose? Short prose, admittedly. Obscure and incomprehensible prose, frequently. But prose nonetheless.

     That probably sounds old fashioned and anachronistic, coming from someone now living in the former hometown of Carl Sandburg, a poet who was an enthusiastic practitioner of free verse. Nevertheless, it is an accurate reflection of my own personal aesthetic bias.

     Having said that, let me acknowledge that not everyone shares my opinions with regard to free verse. For all I know, there may very well be some highly talented Christian poets who prefer free verse to more traditional poetry. If I were to impose my own aesthetic preferences on them or on those who love what they do, it would be comparable to what some conservative Christians did when responding to the "Jesus music" of the early seventies. Some Christians responded to "Jesus music" with judgment and condemnation. They claimed, without any substantive scriptural evidence to support their claims, that the musical form was inherently ungodly and therefore unsuitable for use by Christians seeking to glorify God.

     Some people still make such claims, but they are a small minority in the Christian community in this country, and that's a fact for which I am thankful. I love many of the old hymns, but a church which is not continually adding new songs to the songs of the past is a dead church. The best songwriters are influenced by the music they hear in everyday life, not just by the music which was created in the dim and distant past. Plus, the best songwriters are motivated, in part, by the desire to present their messages in a manner which will be perceived as accessible by their intended audience.

     If making the gospel more accessible to certain types of people means presenting the Christian message in the context of a rock song or in the context of a "free verse" poem, I see no biblical basis for criticizing the choice to do so. In fact, I'm inclined to think that we have a moral obligation to do whatever it takes (short of doing things which clearly violate biblical standards of behavior) in order to reach out to unbelievers and draw them into the Church.

     Our duty is not to promote tradition for its own sake. Some traditions are worth promoting. Others are not. And even in cases where certain traditions are worthy of promotion, it doesn't necessarily follow from that fact that dissimilar traditions or practices are unworthy of promotion. There's room for artistic diversity in the Body of Christ.

     Wouldn't it be boring if all art and music sounded pretty much the same? Of course it would. As Christian musician Steve Taylor pointed out, God doesn't call us to be clones of one another. There's a special place for each one of us in the Kingdom of God.