question about form
Maybe a beginner technical question, I'd appreciate personal advice and discussion from maybe more experienced poets very much (Article or book recommendations would be great too) I've been regularly writing for 5 years and I still wonder if I'm really embracing my "voice" with everything.
I'm a young adult, after highschool I spent a lot of time trying to make my poems sound less "juvenile" and more "original". Hindsight is 20/20, and in reading way more modern poets I realized that free form just isn't what I want my work to sound like. I realize a lot of people go through this. I do open mics and talk with friends about writing, and they tend to agree this is a pretty average experiment-to-return to form experience.
But I'm feeling stuck now with coherent rhythm and rhyme scheme. Like I know "how" to do it and part of "why" I'm choosing it, there's just something missing so I get the feeling I'm hitting another technical wall. I'll frequently finish a draft or go back to something I was happy with just weeks ago and my form looks just redundant / derivative to me in a way I can't place, so don't know how to fix or improve upon. I'd really like to know why that is. Obviously not all poems have to rhyme, and if they do they should rhyme well. I guess what I'm asking is how do you understand and apply intentional friction in a way that's true to your own voice?