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 # 11 I will call Unexpected Surprise.
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 # 11
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.
Unexpected Suprise
The sun glowed warm and bright today,
An unexpected surprise,
For far too long it had glimmered grey
Luminosity to chasing my dreary mood away
Brilliant beauty shining in the mid-winter skies
The sun glowed warm and bright today
Optimism captured by a sun’s golden ray
The hope of deliverance without compromise
For far too long it had glimmered grey
Winter ceased its desolation for a short holiday
Giving us a splendid generous prize
The sun glowed warm and bright today
I wish the north wind would allow you to stay
To bring back the flowers and the butterflies
For far too long it had glimmered grey
Gathering dark clouds on the horizon far away
Bring a salty tear to my winter-weary eyes
The sun glowed warm and bright today
For far too long it had glimmered grey
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.
Be sure to follow Molly on Twitter!
I love this poem. Thank you for writing and sharing it. The older I get, the more my mood is affected (positively) when the sun comes out. I also love the way you use words when writing prose. For example, “I take up the challenge of pirouetting across this restrictive dance floor with a degree of trepidation.”
Thank you for taking the time to read my work.
Lovely, Molly! 💖👑
Great work! Will you be choosing a different form for February?
Yes. I’m thinking about doing sonets.
Nice. You have some options there. You can switch between version to suit 👍 I look forward to it.
Great post 🙌👏