This month Margaret Simon posed our Inklings challenge. She asked us to ” Write a poem on any topic using enjambment,” and offered Poetry Foundation’s definition: “The running-over of a sentence or phrase from one poetic line to the next, without terminal punctuation; the opposite of end-stopped.”

I’m pretty sure there’s a bit more to it than that!

I woke this morning, knowing I needed to post, and wishing I’d had more time to consider the challenge amidst the wind-up to school. Apparently my sleep-mind was pondering too, as I woke with this phrase in mind, structured just like this:

Night
falls
into
dawn as
dreams
slip
away

©Molly Hogan

Isn’t it funny how your brain keeps working on something, even while you’re sleeping!?

With a day off (Woot!), I had time to ponder enjambment a bit more, to consider its nuances, and do a bit of research. I was thinking a lot about why and how poets use enjambment. So, I read definitions, mentor poems and explanations. To sum up what I found, and what you probably already know, enjambment can increase the pace or drama of a piece, it can merge ideas, play with mood and theme, and generally pulls the reader along. It can complicate, explain or clarify. When used skillfully, it adds so many layers!

Check out the powerful use of enjambment in the first part of “Homeland Security” by Geoffrey Brock:

The four am cries
of my son worm
through the double
foam of earplugs

and diazepam.
…

I mean…wow! The first time I read this poem, my brain was constantly playing catch up in the most delightful way! And speaking of delights, while I was exploring the rabbit hole of all things enjambed, I came across Diane Mayr’s brilliant Poetry Friday from 2013 entitled “The Secret Society of Enjambment.” Such fun!

I wish I could top that one, but even though I had great fun exploring enjambment, and marveling at how poets use it to great effect, I ended up sticking with a quick response I’d written earlier in the month. It’s rooted in how enjambment impacts me when I’m reading aloud. Here it is:

Straddling the Lines

I’m not 
sure I’m a fan
of enjamb-
ment
It feels a
bit unfair leaving
the reader 
hanging
in 
the 
air
or somewhere teetering at 
the end of 
a line 
unsure whether to 
stop
or read on with
flow or to go
no
further.

©Molly Hogan

To see what the other Inklings did with this challenge, click on their links:

Heidi Mordhorst
Catherine Flynn
Margaret Simon
Linda Mitchell
Mary Lee Hahn

This week’s Poetry Friday Roundup is hosted by Ramona at her blog, Pleasures from the Page.