In January, I will explore the style of the Villanelle. This form of poetry has a lot of rules. I am normally a rule-breaker, so I take up the challenge of pirouetting across this restrictive dance floor with a degree of trepidation. Villanelle # 5 I will call My Muse’s Excuse.
My first love is poetry. I played with rhythms as a child as a favorite toy, writing line after line and verse upon verse down in a notebook my mama gave me. The words became undecipherable squiggly lines dancing across the page. I remember sitting on my Uncle Harvey’s porch, making up poems only I could read. I learned to write real letters after I started school. That’s when my adventure with poetry started. I found myself in a dance with a fickle dancer. As soon as I got the steps right, the beat changed, and the singer sang a different tune. COVID-19 and retirement have given me the gift of time to explore, study, and capture the essence of poetry, making all its different moved on the page.
The rules I followed writing Villanelle # 5
The rules for creating a Villanelle are simple and straight forward. This style of poetry must have 19 lines and five stanzas. The closing stanza has four lines. Also, line 1 gets repeated in lines 6, 12, and 18. Thus, line 3 gets repeated in lines 9, 15, and 19. There are so many rules and so little time.
My Muse’s Excuse
Listen up, Lady, and don’t give me any crap
I see your lips moving but I don’t hear any sound
It’s not me that’s the problem, so shut your trap
It’s your characters complaining and sitting a trap
They are out of control and to tightly wound
Listen up, Lady, and don’t give me any crap
Those characters chat me up until I think I might snap
They are the moodiest figments of imagination I’ve ever found
It’s not me that’s the problem, so shut your trap
I’d like to lay down and take a long catnap
But all I hear all day long is their voices so profound
Listen up, Lady, and don’t give me any crap
If you want me to be your inspiration, give me a map
Better yet, the best advice I found
It’s not me that’s the problem, so shut your trap
concerning my behavior, put on your thinking cap
I’m the best muse in the hood or anywhere around
Listen up, Lady, and don’t give me any crap
It’s not me that’s the problem, so shut your trap
Who is Molly Shea?
Molly Shea is an accomplished fictional short story writer from Indiana who writes short stories and novels about a fictional town called Tecumseh. To read more of her short stories and adventures, click here.
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I found it quite hilarious honestly 😁👍
👌❤
Fabulous blog
I love the last two verses of this piece!
It’s humorous and so on point. 🤣
I like this verse in particular
“If you want me to be your inspiration, give me a map
Better yet, the best advice I found
It’s not me that’s the problem, so shut your trap”
Do not say yes when you mean to say no
Why would you carry the luggage of lies?
Sing; sing a sincere song wherever you go.
Many shady folks toil to shield their shadow
Their deeds are not hidden, as the star in the skies
Do not say yes when you mean to say no.
Live to love; become someone’s pillar and pillow
Save a soul from the night’s fiery flies,
Sing; sing a sincere song wherever you go.
The wicked forcefully reap where they did not sow,
The Lord will arise and dry your dripping eyes,
Do not say yes, when you mean to say no.
So many are wallowing in want and woe,
They were ravaged by rulers, who were secret spies,
Sing; sing a sincere song wherever you go.
Even if the stormy seas make you sick and slow
Awake, shake off the chains and arise;
Do not say yes when you mean to say no,
Sing; sing a sincere song wherever you go.
I wrote this in 2010
Great 😌