Tuesday, 8 April 2014

Not Writing a Villanelle Tonight

"The highly structured villanelle is a nineteen-line poem with two repeating rhymes and two refrains. The form is made up of five tercets followed by a quatrain. The first and third lines of the opening tercet are repeated alternately in the last lines of the succeeding stanzas; then in the final stanza, the refrain serves as the poem's two concluding lines. Using capitals for the refrains and lowercase letters for the rhymes, the form could be expressed as: A1 b A2 / a b A1 / a b A2 / a b A1 / a b A2 / a b A1 A2." 


Not tonight, I have better things to do,
Then to sit and watch the blank screen taunt me,
I will not have a poem to amuse you.


My mind is blank, I can not follow through,
With clever written creativity,
Not tonight, I have better things to do.


Perhaps, instead, I'll craft with pens and glue,
Or maybe I'd just rather watch tv,
I will not have a poem to amuse you.


After children sleep, my free time is due,
Time for household responsibility,
Not tonight, I have better things to do,


Wash floors, pay bills, or income tax is due,
Or I'll tackle the mountain of laundry,
I will not have a poem to amuse you.


After seven poems, am I really through?
I just don't feel like writing poetry,
Not tonight, I have better things to do,
I will not have a poem to amuse you.


-Laura Freeman-

April 8, 2014

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