Pariah and turpentine both have three syllables but they take different times to say.
And of course there's the stresses and that but don't go mapping them out like I had to for my degree, it'll break your brain and you'll struggle to write. Read your poem aloud. Taste the words. Feel how you say them. Feel where the focus is. Where the importance lies.
A good poem moves like the ocean. It rushes like waves. There are moments of speed and power. There are moments of stillness and thought. There is urgency. There is pause.
A good poem is alive.
