Wednesday, April 25, 2007

the not-so-villainous villanelle

The (cato) prompt this week at Poetry Thursday was to write a villanelle. Now, I have *never* tried to follow a poetic form before (except for one fifth-grade haiku) and I was a little apprehensive, given all the comments about how villainous the villanelle can be. To my surprise, I loved it! I felt that the constraints of the form helped me to push myself a little more; that perhaps I wasn't satisfied as quickly as I might otherwise have been. I will be writing more of these and will be trying other forms as well. Stay tuned!

Two notes: Jessica’s piece on villanelles mentioned iambic pentameter; other research I have done suggests that this is not an absolute requirement of the form - so I chose not to do so. Also, I altered one word in each repeat of the second refrain.

I can't WAIT until late tonight when I can link this to PT and see what all the other PTers have to offer.

On Writing Poetry Outside at 5:00 AM

In the quiet of the pre-dawn hour
alchemy awaits me as I wield my pen
Reborn, sustained by Nature's gathering power.

The rushing creek, the birds, the brightening flower
all free my soul of weight. Begin again
in the quiet of the pre-dawn hour

to voice my dreams, my hopes. This verdant bower
cradles me. I am no longer fallen --
Reborn, sustained by Nature's stately power.

I am deluged with thoughts both sweet and sour.
I wait, and watch, and deeply listen
in the quiet of the pre-dawn hour.

The drought of words becomes a building shower.
The gift will come, the transmutation happen
Reborn, sustained by Nature's fearsome power.

The poet in my heart will sing, if I allow her
the time and space to gently reawaken
in the quiet of the pre-dawn hour --
reborn, sustained by Nature's graceful power.

13 comments:

Scotty said...

Very nice, Sasha; you seem comfortable with this particular form. :-)

And thanks for the vote of confidence re: the Poem in my Pocket thing - I'm flattered so yes, be my guest. :-)

Rob Kistner said...

Excellent Sasha.

I liked the variations on "Nature's ____ power".

Nicely done.

--and so it goes--
...Rob

Clockworkchris said...

This was a great poem. Very fun to read about the writing process and what surrounds you. I loved how you varied the second repeating verse. I agree with you about the iambic being difficult, this assignment took a long time. You were wise to go in your own direction.

Pauline said...

Very impressive as well as expressive. The form demands things of us but I agree, the effort is quite satisfying.

gautami tripathy said...

The slight alteration works very well.

I never think of iambic pentameter. Not even for sonnets...LOL!

Regina said...

I love how we each came to the villanelle in our own way... well done, Sasha!

Crafty Green Poet said...

This works beautifully, I like the repitition (with variations) of Nature's power.

Beaman said...

Enjoyable read and well done on the structure of the piece.

Tammy Brierly said...

This was one of the best I've read today Sasha. Well written and it spoke to me. I understood every line. ;)

Anonymous said...

lovely lovely

Jessica said...

This is a lovely villanelle -- I like the "pre-dawn hour" refrain a lot. I agree totally with your comment in the intro -- form does push us in our writing. When we stretch for that rhyme (or iamb) our brains can produce some pretty magical stuff!

Deb said...

I enjoyed the poem/poet's relationship with nature very much. Well done.

rel said...

Sasha,
Deliscious!
It seems that this form is a natural for you.
rel