Le Rendezvous
a sonnette
Up on the hillside, sweet snow-drops glisten,
like silver threads, in your soft gold locks,
(that mimic blossoms, peeping through the rocks)
and smiling gaze, as you fondly listened.
I see you still, an evanescent shade.
An alabaster sun shines down and mocks;
and glances off the stone where you were laid.
Daughters of Achelous
terza rima in a villanelle format
In ages past, all sailors knew,
travelers spoke of winsome wenches
who dwelt at sea where legends grew.
Bewitching songs, forboding clinches,
led men to often ghastly places,
of shattered wrecks and gruesome stenches.
Bones picked bare by crabs and fishes
littered sea bottoms and beaches,
where men were drawn against their wishes ...
to find their souls drained dry by leeches
disguised as lovely, lissome maids,
who roamed the ocean’s farthest reaches.
So, as each sailor’s life force fades,
each siren perches on the cliffs,
and singing twists her hair in braids.
For, as his ship’s prow grandly lifts
to strand upon that magicked shore --
his vision dims, his life’s soul shifts.
He's hers at last ... forevermore.
The Synaesthesia of Poetry
a Shakespearean sonnet
It’s God’s own truth, my boy, forsooth
it’s vain to say, unless saying it brings joy.
The feel of consonants, rude and uncouth,
can yet be soothed by vowels, so toy
with sounds, and shape the words with care.
Each word that tumbles off your tongue
can show and lay another image bare,
to light the memories that you’ve brung.
Like diamonds glittering in threads,
that line dark hallways in your mind,
the words may riot in your head,
or discolor how you view mankind.
Don’t let those passages, with shadow fraught,
dispel hope or derail your thought.
Mythology in flood
a sestina
As the heavens opened with a rush.
Sheets of rain pelted the earth...
The waters roared, swirled, and rose:
Land disappeared beneath the waves.
Skies vanished in a leaden haze...
The world lay drowned beneath a flood.
The catastrophic, inundating flood
Tossed high a ship...to rush
To far horizons, veiled with haze --
But nowhere was land on earth
Showing sign above the waves,
Which full in flood still rose.
Noah looked on sunset, grey and rose,
Searching vainly out above the flood
For land ... thrust up above the waves.
Still the rain fell in a rush,
And swept across the battered earth,
While all about was murky haze.
But as he searched to pierce the haze,
He wondered as the waters rose
If evermore they'd see the earth --
Or simply toss upon the flood
As round and round the world they'd rush
Through forty days of swirling waves...
He saw a blackness on the waves,
Vaguely through the leaden haze --
And sent a dove out in a rush.
The tiny form circled and rose,
And vanished out above the flood
In search of solid, welcome earth.
Very soon their proof of earth,
Uncovered from receding waves,
That marked the ending of the flood,
Came swooping through the fog and haze.
The dove returned, and dipped and rose,
Then landed in a fevered rush.
Straightaway they all did rush
To see, as mists dissolved and rose,
Where olive trees transfixed the haze.
Survival Proves A Most Elusive Goal
a pantoum
Since dreams dissolve with lack of hope,
Too many children cry in vain --
Stress frays fragile lifelines like a rope.
With experience too limited to cope,
too many children cry in vain...
Many die before the age of five
From experience too limited to cope.
Survival proves a most elusive goal.
Many die before the age of five...
Just the lucky and the strong survive.
Survival proves a most elusive goal,
While poverty and hunger reap their toll.
Just the lucky and the strong survive,
When stress frays fragile lifelines like a rope.
Poverty and hunger take their toll...
And dreams dissolve with lack of hope.
Author notes
Re: meter - I write in tetrameter primarily, and not in iambic pentameter. The Shakespearean sonnet is, therefore, not in iambic pentameter. There is a volta in line 9 in the sonnet, although some might not recognize it as such.
There's no set meter for villanelles, sestinas, or sonnettes, or terza rima poems, that I am aware of at any rate.
A contest entry
- Mesdames et Messieurs, Tours de Force, S'il Vous Plaît: by Peripatetic.
6000 points, ended April 19, 9 entries
• next poem in this contest, remove from contest
What did you think?
Comments
1 - 18 of 18
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Wow, this is beautiful...and extremely impressive!!
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Le Rendezvous
Sigh... so beautifully sad, especially the last line as it was the last thing was I expecting to read. This seems just what is needed by Ron right now for the book. -
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Thanks for stopping by ...
but I have no idea how Ron could use the sonnette. I don't remember any theme that it matches.
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The Sonnette is replete with wonderful imagery which transports the reader with the author in this sentimental imagining of a visit to a hillside grave.
The poet's "Daughters of Achelous" is an interesting variation on 2 forms, Terza Rima & Villanelle, usually brought together in a Terzanelle, but here joined in a different mating of lines & rhymes.
The rhythm seems more classical than accentual & works well for the mythical theme. The images are strong & stirring, & they are well used to transport the reader into the alluring though tragic circumstances of the narrative.
The Shakespearean Sonnet examines the sounds of words & phrasing in a poem against the delivery of content. The author notes that the turn is subtle, & so it is, but reading carefully we see that the poet has turned from the power of words for poetry to the power they have for how we view the world & our fellow man.
We are also alerted in the notes to look for tetrameter phrasing, but lines 3, 7, 12 & 13 have syllables & feet which seem to exceed the poet's intended rhythm of flow. The author is not given to petty emphasis on pretty meter, and it shows in this poem!
The Sestina is a dramatic retelling of a familiar story and well done for engaging our senses and emotions. The most obvious convention of the Sestina form is the sequence of end words in the sestets and the envoi. The author follows the accepted sequence for the sestets. There are so many sequences touted for the envoi that I do not quibble except that all 6 end words must be present, 2 per line. In this Sestina only 3 appear. We have no internal appearance of flood, waves & earth to go with rush, rose & haze.
The author's Pantoum entry is bitter in tone & by its mention of them in contrast to the poor & hungry seems to judge the lucky & the strong as somehow responsible for the destiny which others suffer. The poem makes no mention of the tremendous effort & sacrifice the lucky & the strong expend in trying to reduce the numbers of those who cry in vain & die before the age of five. Still, it does engender a strong emotional response.
The Pantoum convention for rhyme is not followed. Some do not consider this important, but its absence is an irritation to this reader. No quatrain has the abab scheme I look for in the form, but the line sequence is otherwise used quite effectively.
The author's note regarding meter for some forms is correct as far as it goes. However, although no set or particular meter is expected of some forms, a consistent meter very often is. In the end, though, rhyme & meter are vehicles for delivery of a poem's content. The author has some disdain for meter, but his poetry is still long on content and has its own intrinsic poetic grace & effect. Well done!
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just gorgeous pieces i dont know if i have a favorite and i love the tales you chose to tell about in them. if i had a favorite theme it would probably be Daughters of Achelous about the sirens, you painted such awesome imagery of it here. these arent easy styles so when you can write them so pretty that the reader forgets about style and just gets pulled into the story thats real mastery
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A masterpiece of literary poetic skill in these compositions so well crafted and formatted.
I wish you all the best in the contest and I hope your health has improved---Nice to see you back on AP
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brilliant
vividly written,i loved your virtiuoso shakesphere word solo man,you rock!!!the written word!!
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Well ...
it's nice to hear from you again. I had begun to wonder what was going on with you.
Thanks for stopping by. -
i cant spell
sorry. -
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I'm only ...
a spelling nazi when someone enters a poem in one of my contests with a bunch of misspelled words. In comments, who cares?
It's like Xmas presents. The thought is more important than the glitz.
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Very well done indeed. I particularly enjoyed the sonnette, the terza rima in villanelle format and the pantoum, but all are good.
Best of luck,
Bill
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Ahhh these were heaven to read and admire. Very very well done. I was loving that Sestina best. ~Pamela
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Son of a hullup!
(to use a downeast fisherman's term...)
All very enjoyable, "Ecrivant"! Well done!
I especially enjoyed "Daughters of Achelous" and "...the Flood". Poetry about the sea and those who live on her is very powerful for me!
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Mille fois merci ...
and thanks for stopping by. I'm afraid "hullup" is a new term for me. I suspect I get the gist though.
Very thoughtful of you to drop in and say hello. -
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"Son of a hullup!" was an expression my grandfather used...not heard much anymore even where he came from.
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Bravo!
To comment as more than my own humble compliments on how much I've enjoyed reading this.Would be to admit,I'm in way over my head literally drowning in forms and styles so elaborate.And I am! To this reader's view of this author's body of works here. These are a gift to behold. A true feat of ingenuity.
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Definitely tour de force--mastery in so many forms, temperaments, tones, and voices...all somehow blending together. Congratulations and best in the contest.
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Thanks for stopping by ...
and I even used a poem written in a form I learned from you with your contest on sonnettes.
Haven't heard much from you lately. I hope all is well in your world?
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