Sonnet - What to Say Upon Being Asked to be Friends - Walt Finch

http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poem/244002

This poem holds true to Shakespearean rhyme scheme in the first seven lines, following the pattern ABABBCB.  After that it loses all rhyme going to FGHIJ, and then lines 13 and 14 are back to Shakespearean KK.  The rhyming is not perfect, it is all near rhymes.  The poet does this because in the poem he even says, "till I taste the stuff that makes my rhyming rough". 

The loss of the rhyme scheme lines 8-12 helps to emphasize the rhyming in lines 13 and 14, which makes the shift really stand out.  It also stands out because of white space but yeah.... This is another thing that matches Shakespearean sonnets, the shift/volta in the last two lines.

In the groupings, although the poet didn't split it with white space, he did split it with end-stopped lines.  It's structured in a quintet, a tercet, a quatrain, and then a couplet. 

The poet's message is that the friend-zone is killing him, because he really loves this girl, but the shift in the end says it's okay because although it's killing me being her friend and seeing her is better than not at all.  At his position now he doesn't see her, and "shuns" her, even though inside he "mourns" the loss of her.

Why did I choose this poem?  I chose it because I can relate, but I kind of just shun the girl and inwardly mourn like the author did at one point.  Maybe we'll come around to being friends again who knows.