This month, my poetry sisters and I wrote original villanelles. The most famous villanelle is, of course, "Do Not Go Gentle, Into That Good Night" by Dylan Thomas, though I quite like Elizabeth Bishop's "One Art" ("The art of losing is not hard to master;/so many things seem filled with the intent/to be lost that their loss is no disaster.") and " ( Read more... )

Remember the other day when I said I was working on a new villanelle? (And then proceeded to explain what a villanelle is and how to write one, rather than, you know, focusing on my own work? Ahem ( Read more... )

Today, a (possibly tl;dr) post about how to write a villanelle, since I'm currently working on one with my poetry sisters, which is supposed to post this Friday ( Read more... )

Today's poem by former Children's Poet Laureate J. Patrick Lewis is in celebration of Helen Keller Day. In 1980, President Jimmy Carter issued a proclamation making June 27th (Helen Keller's birthday). Helen Keller was left deaf and blind following a childhood fever, and the popular play The Miracle Worker by William Gibson has made generations of ( Read more... )

Today, an original poem which I wrote in 2009 in response to a challenge issued by Liz Garton Scanlon. The challenge was not simply to write any villanelle, but to use the words thanksgiving and friends in the first and third lines. I wrote mine during the ramp-up to Thanksgiving, and I couldn't help overhearing various and sundry people (some ( Read more... )

As I continue to age, I am no longer certain that I applaud the advice contained in Dylan Thomas's poem, "Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night", which Thomas wrote for his father. Or rather, I applaud it when applied to older individuals who opt to pull themselves out of life for various reasons - my lovely widow friend comes to mind, who, at ( Read more... )

Today, an original poem for Poetry Friday. As I mentioned yesterday, this poem is a villanelle. For an explanation of the form (and a template if you are so inclined), you can check out yesterday's postI wrote this poem because Liz Scanlon roped me into it over a month ago, along with the rest of us who wrote sonnets together last year. The ( Read more... )

Come tomorrow, I'll be posting an original villanelle here along with six of my poetry friends, the same crowd who worked on a crown of sonnets last year. I blame Liz Scanlon for finally making me tackle this form again - it's one that thwarted my prior efforts, which involved two that I never finished and one that I finished, but will never share ( Read more... )

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