I’ll never write a decent villanelle
by cricketjeff on March 13, 2010. © Jeff Green, All rights reserved
It’s hard to make the repetition tell
Each time I try I leave the flow behind
I’ll never write a decent villanelle
So tough that few have ever done it well
Though good ones stick so firmly in the mind
It’s hard to make the repetition tell
Sometimes my tries have found poetic Hell
“A good attempt” would really be too kind
I’ll never write a decent villanelle
Each Dylan Thomas line is like a shell
And with each one your doubts are undermined
It’s hard to make the repetition tell
The form is tight it’s tempting to rebel
And hope that those who read my lines are blind
I’ll never write a decent villanelle
Let this last verse become my final knell
I’ll try to keep the message I’ve enshrined
It’s hard to make the repetition tell
I’ll never write a decent villanelle
Author notes
However I doubt I really will give up, if it wasn’t for bloody Dylan Thomas I
would probably just assume that the form was too restrictive to come up with a
good modern one, but other people on AP do and his is one of the 20th century’s
greatest poems so I will doubtless return to the attempt.
English