Friday, July 30, 2021

Poetry Friday: The Dichotomy of Villanelles

I wasn't sure about pairing villanelles with the theme of dichotomy. After all, the form is all about repetition, with the first and third lines echoing throughout the nineteen line poem. Didn't that make for an argument of accumulation rather than one of division?  

Of course, there are only two end rhymes---a and b---so maybe that could hold some opposites. Or not. I honestly was stumped, and had done zero prep for our ZOOM write-in. But when I opened my document to noodle around during our session, I found a gift---the "dud" line that Linda Mitchell had given me in last month's "clunker exchange:"  

"A year, or maybe a century ago"


Hey! That was, if not exactly a dichotomy, at least a contradiction. And as for the idea of time itself, that's also rife with paradoxical tropes...in fact, my first laughable line to pair with the so-called "clunker" was a bona fide stinker:  


Does time fly, or does it flow?  



Didn't matter. I was headed somewhere. I had words on the page. And eventually, I wrote my way into a villanelle, and perhaps some delicious dichotomy. 



A year, or maybe a century ago
we were bitter young; we were freshly old
our hearts a creek in overflow

what we might do, where we might go
too weak to bear, if not be bold
a year, or maybe a century ago

the questions stung, but blow by blow
answers came, not one pre-told
our hearts a creek in overflow

broken neat, we mended calico
embraced by time’s sweet stranglehold
a year, or maybe a century ago

we brightly sunk to yawning low
crested yet in rivulets of shadow-fold
our hearts a creek in overflow

making of the rocky earth an archipelago 
unbounded yet, a swelling unconsoled 
a year, or maybe a century ago  
our hearts a creek in overflow.


-----Sara Lewis Holmes (all rights reserved)  


                                                                   

My poetry sisters are here:


Mary Lee (welcome to the poetry sisters!)

Tricia

Kelly

Andi

Liz

Tanita

Laura


Poetry Friday is hosted today by Becky at Sloth Reads




10 comments:

  1. Sara, so beautiful! I'm glad you found an idea. I'm sure Linda will be honored her line found a place here.
    Yes, indeed, there is delicious dichotomy in your poem. "we were bitter young; we were freshly old"

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  2. Wow, Sara! What a beautiful villanelle! It seems like such a difficult form to get right and you did so masterfully. Thanks for sharing!

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  3. Sara, during our Zoom, I was working with "Time is both friend and foe." And the cliches only multiplied from there1 I love the mysterious mood you create, which seems to hint at heartbreak and healing. It's amazing to me how you can use so many concrete and gorgeous images in a poem and make it work and make it engaging, even when I'm not sure exactly what (If anything in particular) happened. A lovely poem for pondering..

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  4. "Bitter young" and "freshly old" - I love that. It speaks to those of us who seem born out of time and out of step with our peers so well.

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  5. I LOVE your stinker line and I'm sad it didn't make it into your lovely love poem--at least that's how I read it. It IS mysterious, the best kind of not-quite-logical syntax and progression that keeps us a little off balance but wallops with the emotions of a relationship over time.
    "we brightly sunk to yawning low

    crested yet in rivulets of shadow-fold

    our hearts a creek in overflow"
    Wonderful.

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  6. This is beautiful! I love your refrains - that clunker became a real star in this poem.

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  7. This condensation of process is brilliant: "I was headed somewhere. I had words on the page. And eventually, I wrote my way into a villanelle..." and I love your rhymes! You took a clunker and made it shine.

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  8. Bitter young and freshly old feels SO SO perfect (and hard and surprising and perfect) to me. Thanks for this wonderfulness...

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  9. You not only gave us the behind the poem thoughts but a lovely villanelle fresh with beautiful lines. I, too, love "we were bitter young; we were freshly old". Thinking back on youthful days those thoughts make great sense.

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  10. I love where your imagination carried you from Linda's clunker line to "our hearts a creek in overflow," and the poetic ebbing and flowing of this creek and time that you spun for us, thanks Sara!

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