Mesostic poems are new to me. I don't agree that the rules are pointless. One might argue that without the rules, the form would be pointless--unless the resulting shaped poem were intricate enough to show that the placement in each line of the salient letter was not random (calling Jan D. Hodge!). Bob, you've added some clever twists which vitalize the thing.
Annie, I second Martin in urging you to write that poem. And explain your method. How would one hide a message that would be seen only by a speed reader? (Would you assume the reader were reading in a Z pattern, as they tried to teach Bob to do?)
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