Enjambment

In terms of poetic definitions enjambment is as simple as a garden hose. This green ornament of herbal salubrity comprised of synthesized phthalates and rubber byproducts contains an orb of continuity that flows freely upon the twist of a knob. The hose resembles poetic enjambment in that enjambment “flows” freely from line to line in a poem without a pause, similar to water flowing freely from cubic centimeter to cubic centimeter without stoppage. A poem of course can be abruptly stopped with the use of punctuation.

Commas and periods and colons and semi-colons alike are forever disappointments as they suck the continuity of my poetic hose dry. Now, the enjambment defeated, we overlook a soul crushing period who, at this very moment, is dismantling the smooth flow of transitions from line to line we’ve worked so hard to establish in the last stanza. Alas, this is similar to that annoying kid who lives next door.

This kid, he folds your hose over when you’re trying to wash your car. And when you tell him to go home he lies about something and skips off down the street, unaware of the potentially permanent psychological damage he is causing you. The psychological damage of course can be viewed as the continuity of the poem in that extended metaphor.

Examples

I found this example of enjambment on Wikipedia, the ever reliable free encyclopedia.

You will dine well, my Fabullus, at my house

in a few, if the gods favor you, days,

and if you bring with you a good and great

dinner, not without a white girl

and wine and wit and laughs for all.

I wrote this example of enjambment then added it to the Wikipedia page for enjambment.

I really don’t like to pay for things

Like gas and food and sodas,

People tell me that I’m cheap

When it’s just that I have quotas.

It is well known that the condition resulting from listening to the [Tool] song [Jambi] is known as Enjambment.