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Hey. Recently, I have finished my zero draft for my Infinite Story contest entry, and I want to do something creative with it. As confident as I am in my ability to write fiction—it was part of my old name, after all—I want to do more than that, I want to create a story similar to 4 Little Mice by Appdude27 and TerrAquVen; I want to write a story that is told through poetry.

Convenient that I am now named after a subpar great poet, don't you think?

Anyways, I want to know what you guys think would be a good story, and if there is any advice you guys might have for writing poems that sound pleasing without following strict structures like the dactylic hexameter used in The Odyssey.

If you are looking for an easier form you can try a Lais. It is more simple than dactylic hexameter, but it is still structured. It is an epic written in octosyllabic couplets (eight-syllable lines that rhyme in sets of two). As for story ideas you just need to pick something epic (haha). Anything will work there. 

A story through poetry would be great! Quatrains with ABAB or ABCB structure are pretty simple:

"The knights left the castle in grand array, (A, 10)
Their ladies sighed from the towers.            (B, 8)
Across the flowered plain they marched away, (A,10)
Singing songs to pass the hours."    (B, 8)

The Rime of the Ancient Mariner is a good example of the ABCB style (at least in the first two sections.)

You could also use limericks, haikus, or mix it up.  Goblin Market
is a good example of a poem that tells a story while changing up the rhyme scheme. The Raven  is a famous narrative poem that tells a chilling story with a more repetitive ABCBBB rhyme scheme.

There are so many different ways you can set up a poem.

I personally find it helps to try and keep the syllable counts of every other line (rhyming or not) roughly matched. Rather than worry about strict iambic pentameter or dactylic hexameter or what syllables to stress, just read it aloud. That catches most of the rough patches.

This is from one of the death scenes in my story, where it just worked out better/shorter to narrate the scene in poetry. Originally I'd wanted to do a lot more death scenes in this manner, but that plan didn't work out.

(For context, Savagery is a flanged mace with fire magic that puts a Berserk/rage type state on the wielder when used.)
 

Aeron the Dragonslayer

Atop the stone, the Hollow stood,
A warrior unafraid.
He drew two weapons, void and flame,
To win his last crusade.

The dragon came on shining wings,
Seeking the treasures new,
But Aeron leaped into the maw,
And stabbed the great throat through!

Savagery he tossed inside
The hole that he had rent;
Into the belly of the beast,
The fiery mace was sent!

The flames of wrath did then ignite
The dragon's gassy store;
The scaly flesh exploded in
A rain of blood and gore!

I think @mizal had made a pretty good storygame through poetry, here on CYS itself. I can't remember the name though.

I would just tell you to assume your story as an extremely lengthy poem and follow the same procedure, really. I mean the only thing you might have to keep in mind is the flow of the plot, everything else is the same like normal poetry, more or less.

Also, I would suggest iambic meter, as that usually comes pretty naturally to people, and a few ups and downs are not that noticeable.