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| Carrot cake, my husband's favorite |
I'm sure there was a toast given, too. Which brings me to this month's poetry challenge: the clogyrnach, a traditional Welsh ode with a decreasing syllable count and a simple rhyme scheme:
8 syllables - x x x x x x x a
8 syllables - x x x x x x x a
5 syllables - x x x x b
5 syllables - x x x x b
3 syllables - x x b
3 syllables - x x a
(you may combine last two lines into one line)
When I did a light Googling of the form, I learned it's used at weddings and funerals (I haven't confirmed this beyond the Internets, however.) I also gleaned that you may repeat the rhyme scheme for as many stanzas as you like, creating a longer story--or perhaps, an ornate toast to a happy couple. Something sweetly humorous, perhaps dolloped with archaic language---and yet filled with well-wishes. Something a Bard (or Bardess) might compose to earn his/her supper--or a slice of cake.
A Clogyrnach to be recited before Cake
Dearly beloved, gathered here,
witness this cake, built tier by tier:
may layers of sponge
shallacked with mauve gunge
flaws expunge, and endear
bride to bridegroom; bridegroom to bride;
grant stomachs for swallowing pride
and spleens to filter
rivals’ false philter;
Ne’er jilt her—but abide;
ne’er salt his cutting grief, but fold
each into each; thus love raids old
age of bitter rhyme;
cake dissolves in time;
naught left fine; but behold:
Dearly beloved, gathered here,
witness these lives, built tear by tear:
pray layers of sponge
give strength for the plunge;
fear expunge; knots tie dear.
---Sara Lewis Holmes (all rights reserved, but hey, yeah, sure---I'll let you recite it at a wedding, no charge. Just email me a picture of your cake.)
My Poetry Sisters attempted the clogyrnach, too, both in short and long forms. As usual with this brave crowd, after a tad of griping and floundering, some fine poems stepped onto the page. Here's a toast to that!
Liz
Tanita
Kelly
Laura
Andi
Tricia
Poetry Friday is hosted today by Penny at Penny and her Jots.
ReplyDeletene’er salt his cutting grief, but fold
each into each; thus love raids old
age of bitter rhyme;
*shakes head, gobsmacked*
I love the Shakespearean wording, and the salting of grief also put me into mind of curing something with salt - like olives, making a bitter thing... better. Man, you really made this work! I bow before the master (mistress?).
Also, I can't tell you how much I love your wedding photos. You look so gleeful, unlike mine, where I look a bit like, "Okay, can we go home yet?" We are both so very us.
DeleteI actually did feel gleeful that day. It took me awhile to be sure of what I was about to do---I was only 21, after all--but once I was sure, I felt free and joyous. And of course, there was cake to be eaten!
DeleteYeah, I can feel the Shakespeare creeping in, but as long as I don't have to write a whole *play* I'm fine with channeling old Will for a few lines.
DeleteYou, you are just so brilliant. The movement from tier to tear, and everything in between. Thank you for this wonderful unrolling, the pain that comes but with it... oh, wisdom.... flavor... fearlessness.
ReplyDeleteAlso, were you 11 when you married?
Very nice! You Sisters are killing it. I've enjoyed each one so far and am off to read more. I love how you wove in "wedding speak" :-)
ReplyDeleteLove the transition from "tier" to "tear". And all that lovely bitterness mixed in with the sweet. Perfectly balanced.
ReplyDelete"Dearly beloved, gathered here,
ReplyDeletewitness these lives, built tear by tear:
pray layers of sponge
give strength for the plunge;
fear expunge; knots tie dear."
LOVE this! You've built it up just like a delicious cake and then we feasted!
Sara, this is amazing. Favorite bit: ne’er salt his cutting grief -- and the ending with its echo to the beginning. What beautiful advice and magical language.
ReplyDeleteThat form works well for tying knots, as it winds shorter and shorter, tighter and tighter. Great job with it.
ReplyDeleteWow. ne’er salt his cutting grief, but fold
ReplyDeleteeach into each; thus love raids old
age of bitter rhyme; Wow.
Amazing words in a form I would find awkward.
Bravo!
Oh, this is gorgeous! I love how your stanzas connect, how the meaning evolves through the line breaks, how the topic evolves from cake to couple. Expert use of the form!
ReplyDeleteThis moves so gracefully from stanza to stanza. Well done with such a difficult form!
ReplyDeleteI'm loving these (quick scroll up to verify spelling) clogymachs!
ReplyDeleteI love the idea of a poem for the eating of wedding cake. :) (Meanwhile, the name of the form sounds like someone choking on cake! Ha!) Great job with it.
ReplyDeleteI'm thinking the trick to making this form less form-y and sing-song-y is definitely in the enjambment...which you use masterfully.
ReplyDeleteLove it!!
ReplyDelete