Glossary Term of the Day:

In poetry, a dimeter is a metrical line of verse with two feet. A foot usually contains one stressed syllable and at least one unstressed syllable.

“Some go local / Some go express / Some can’t wait / To answer Yes,” writes Muriel Rukeyser in her poem “Yes,” in which the dimeter line predominates. Kay Ryan’s “Blandeur” contains a series of mostly dimeter lines:

excerpt from Blandeur by Kay Ryan

If it please God,
let less happen.
Even out Earth's
rondure, flatten
Eiger, blanden
the Grand Canyon.
Make valleys
slightly higher,
widen fissures
to arable land,
remand your
terrible glaciers