Fixed Poetry Form: The Sonnet

A Sonnet is a fourteen line fixed poetry form that employs the use of iambic pentameter (say that three times fast :-) and has a patterned rhyme scheme. There are many varations of this form, but in this post I'll be dealing with two of the more popular ones which are the Italian Sonnet and the English or as it’s known by most, the Shakespearian Sonnet.

The Italian Sonnet has fourteen lines that break up into two quatrains, which usually describe a problem, followed by a sestet (two tercets), which gives the resolution to it. This type of Sonnet can have many rhyme patterns but the one I will be using today is:

abba abba cddc ee

The Shakespearian Sonnet (made famous by you know who) consists of three quatrains and a couplet. Like the Italian Sonnet, it tends to describe a problem and offer a resolution. The rhyme pattern I’ll be using for this one is:

abab cdcd efef gg

I like Sonnets because they tend to be breaths of brevity…but the challenge is sticking to the script of iambic pentameter…that 10 syllable count is a pain in the bahookey…that’s why there’s poetic license. (^_^)

Italian Sonnet

Wistful Thinking

I dream of her draped in a cool breeze,

sprawled out on the mosaic of my mind,

scantily clad, a vision so sublime

her beauty could bring desire to its knees.

Curvature inspiring eyes to freeze

on this Syrian ancestral find,

derrière so decadently divine,

from which passion prohibits a reprieve.

But lusting after a goddess isn’t smart,

when the soul is etched with fervor’s treads,

life as I know it lessened to shreds,

my heart, a piece of her unfinished art.

Undone by this subconscious endeavor

I’ll avert my gaze from her forever.

© 2010 dasuntoucha

Shakespearian Sonnet

Monotonous Motions

Can one stay calm while driving to work?

congested roadways make the nerves tense,

especially when you’re cut off by a jerk,

whose actions cause facilities to wince.

Violence immediately fills the head,

thoughts on the days chores done,

the main focus is to see that motorist dead.

Road rage has sprung, so I reach for my gun,

is today the day I make the evening news?

Shots fired, we’re live on the scene,

because some idiot has magnified rush hour blues,

destroying a disposition that was once serene.

To expel this insanity from my brain,

I think I’ll start to commute by train.

© 2010 dasuntoucha

Fixed Poetry Form: The Sestina

Over the next few weeks I’ll be trying my hand at fixed poetry forms such as the Chant Royal, Pantoum, Sonnet and the Villanelle. In this post, I’m going to attempt a Sestina.

What is a Sestina you might ask? Well it’s a fixed form dating back to the 12th century containing six six-line stanzas and a three-line concluding stanza known as a tercet or envoi. The kicker is that the ending words of the first stanza are repeated throughout each of the following stanzas in a set pattern. For the finale, the same six words appear in the concluding three-line stanza, two in each line.

Here is how the pattern looks with a letter representing the placement of one of the six ending words:

Stanza 1: A, B, C, D, E, F
Stanza 2: F, A, E, B, D, C
Stanza 3: C, F, D, A, B, E
Stanza 4: E, C, B, F, A, D
Stanza 5: D, E, A, C, F, B
Stanza 6: B, D, F, E, C, A
Ending: AB CD EF

So to recap:
A Sestina is a poem that contains six six-line stanzas and a three-line ending stanza utilizing the same six ending words in all of the stanzas.

Looks intimidating right?

A couple of my poetry friends who’ve tried this gave me some tips on how to get started. One way is to pick six related words first, making sure you have a verb or two in the mix. Another way is to write the stanzas first then go back and fashion them to fit six words you choose after writing the poem.

But what’s the challenge in that?  So I chose the first option…here goes…I call this piece…

The Plague of Fate


To step up and bare the soul
unafraid of enormous hurt
that can crush a normal heart
causing memories to bleed
because our eventual fate
forces time to be cruel.

Sadistic satisfaction is cruel
that one should touch the soul
putting everything in the hands of fate
not worrying about hurt
1,000 daily deaths to bleed
just to once hold another’s heart.

But coldness seizes this heart
for reality is relentlessly cruel
coercing one to empty out and bleed
from the very pit of the soul
compounded hurt
seems to be our fate.

Oh, to be strong enough to fight fate
with the strength of a lion’s heart
coiling off hurt
the very thought cruel
as I fight to reach your soul
your name I will bleed.

Love, a dye that will never bleed
untainted or faded by fate
cleansing the soul
and reviving this heart
for kindness trumps an existence that’s cruel
erasing all traces of hurt.

Longing to touch you may hurt
causing worn abrasions to bleed
but compassion crushes time that is cruel
bringing us closer to fate
conjoining pieces of a heart
pacifying a once lost soul.

No more hurt because finally fate
dies as joy commences to bleed from the heart
time ceasing to be cruel, allowing unification into one soul.

© 2010 dasuntoucha

Proper Motivation

I like to think that motivational and inspirational quotes about writing are crumbs that lead one to the table of action. Let’s face it, we're all susceptible to emotional ruts and bouts of laziness we call writer’s block but in the end the only way to write is to write…here are a few quotes I peek at every now and again when I need to shovel some coals into the writing furnace…

Awakening

Decadent Decimation

 

The

fairytale

facade

is always

inviting

enticing

the mind

to feats of

enchantment

that forget even

the most well

built dream

can erode right

in front of

your

eyes.

© 2009, 2010 dasuntoucha

Escapee