Sonnet, Schmonnet

For those that don't know, a sonnet is a 14 line poem written with a specific meter -- iambic pentameter. Each line consists of five iambs, a two syllable unit where the emphasis falls on the second syllable. Sonnets also have a pretty specific rhyming pattern. Shakespeare wrote a lot of them. In my sophmore year of high school, we had to write a sonnet of our own, and this was the result of my efforts.

I tried to write a sonnet 'bout a dream.
But it did not come out quite like I'd hoped.
If I write one 'bout love or some such theme,
It comes out wrong and I feel like a dope.
You can't force poetry, no way, no how,
If you've no good ideas that you can use.
It seems far in the past, not here and now.
There's just no way to win -- you always lose.
Did Shakespeare have hard times away back when
At getting fourteen lines to sound just right?
I don't think I could do this once again,
It runs against my grain - it's such a fight!
Huzzah! The last two lines are finally here.
This is my only sonnet of the year.