Friday, October 30, 2009

Baby's First Villanelle

I've been experimenting with poetic forms and wrote my first villanelle last night.  It's definitely not going to revolutionize the poetic field, but it does fulfill all the requirements of the form.  In trying to think of what to write, I immediately went to Shakespeare, the patron saint of the English language.  I'm provisionally calling it "Modern Trickster."

I am that merry wanderer of the night;

I dance and laugh and shout and sing

more than Puck ever did at his height.


I wield an awesome might

yet am as fragile as a hummingbird's wing.

I am that merry wanderer of the night.


Long I gaze at any thrilling sight

and raise my voice and let it ring

more than Puck ever did at his height.


I don't give a damn about wrong or right.

To me the same is a worker or a king.

I am that merry wanderer of the night.


I'm always ready for a fight

and long to give a head a ping

more than Puck ever did at his height.


I am the whiskey with the bite

that lights the fire that makes souls zing.

I am that merry wanderer of the night

more than Puck ever was at his height.


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