© 2009
Julie Jordan Scott
Was it only ten days ago Emma and I sat at
the playground, a purple colored writing
tablet on the table between us?
We were playing a game with words, something
that would become an object of embrace - a
writing target or goal of sorts. A writing
aim within the rest of my writing life
taken on simply to improve my writing
and enjoy a new-to-me form of poetry
at the same time.
I had numbered the page with 19 lines in
groups of 3 and one last group with 4
lines. We bubbled up variety of rhyming
words so we could complete our self
assigned task, primarily to keep us
content and focused while Sam played
for what felt like a ridiculously
long amount of time.
Our aim? To write a villanelle. Or two.
Neither of us had ever taken on such a task
which made its implementation all the more
sweet. I heightened the challenge by
attempting to make each line of our
poem ten syllables long.
You may be wondering what a villanelle
is because, primarily, in this time and
space in the United States, we are usually
more adept at knowing which teams were
in the Super Bowl and which Near-Teen-Diva
just got out of rehab than we are to
know forms of poetry.
Villanelles are metrical poems, meaning
there is specific structure and rhythm, often
times referred to as “feet” and they
also use a rhyming structure unlike the
now popular free-form of poetry.
Emma and I are not meaning to bring about
a renaissance in our own way with our
experiment in metrical poetry, we are
simply taking some time where we could
have twittled our fingers and complained '
about Sam’s lust for climbing, shrieking
and running and turned inwards
towards our creative souls.
We didn't realize we would soon have
a new writing aim - that we would take
a playful use of time and turn it
into a study in word-delight.
By the time we were done with our first
Villanelle we were laughing and Emma
wanted to take what we had written
and proclaim it in front of her classroom.
I thought she might get beaten up if she
did that so we started on an alternate
which still isn’t completed. That’s ok.
I have since learned that villanelles
usually have fewer metrical feet – in
regular now English terms, that
means shorter lines.
You could say I was increasingly
haunted by villanelle after
that fate-filled day.
This January I have written a
haiku-a-day to synopsize my day.
I have come up with some pretty juicy
“inhale-exhale” moments, which are at
the heart of haiku for me. Simple
inhale….. add an exhale and in
seventeen syllables, much
richness is birthed.
Here are some examples:
January 30, 2009
Hands merge with my soul
“Don’t let your love go unspent”
Tears baptise my face…
January 16, 2009
You know Leland Sklar?
My feet feel each floor board creak
My lips on your glass
January 13, 2009
Tears wash away gunk
Writing poetry, inside
My soul’s lullaby
January 9, 2009
“He fits perfectly!”
Heart right but unexpected
Relief pours clear rain
January 8, 2009
Kudos tap my hand
Is detachment free from space?
Coffee at Dagny’s
This is Simple writing that is flavored with
precision. A haiku artist learns to be concise
as a matter of course – one may not
be verbose in haiku.
I have barely dabbled in metrical poetry.
Occasionally I will experience a brief
flirtation with rhyme but have oftentimes
thought writing metrical verse was too
constricting, too boxifying.
I realized during my month of haiku
that many people believe the same thing
about my beloved art form. One friend
tried out daily haiku and couldn’t keep up.
This flickered in my mind when I had a
wild idea, “Why not write a villanelle
each day in February?”
At first it was like an annoying fly,
buzzing around my ear, relentlessly
toying with my focus. I found myself
visiting rhyme dictionary websites
and going to thesaurus.com to attempt
to fit what I was trying to say
into a specific form.
Finally, I stepped into the goal and
instantly the buzzing, unfocused fly
and the pervasive fear that I wouldn’t
have time was brushed away.
It is February 4 and I have three complete
villanelles under my belt. Today’s is being
birthed as the day goes along.
I especially appreciate how I am incorporating
my life coaching, my creative life and my
parenting within the realm of a poem. I
know I can look back on these villanelle
and remember specific images, specific
moments in time that would otherwise
be lost to me.
Here is an example, from yesterday:
Early Bird on the Porch
Villanelle February 2
Early bird like Dad, awake for sunrise
There, right there, where it was waiting was found
Sit on the porch, talking, without disguise
Nerves settle in my belly, unspilt cries
Memories of dreams, for thirty years, bound
Early bird like Dad, awake for sunrise
Disappointment lives in unconscious sighs
Passion sought, unspent, is like being drowned
Sit on the porch, talking, without disguise
Wait and wait, wait,wait, there is no grand prize
At least I knew to stay flat, on the ground
Early bird like Dad, awake for sunrise
I wear reassurance in my blue eyes
I wonder if it would have helped to expound?
Sit on the porch, talking, without disguise
Grateful for ride home, no need for big "why's"
Comforter about my face, duvet crowned
Early bird like Dad, awake for sunrise
Sit on the porch, talking, without disguise
= = =
I think this is something I will continue.
Seeking answers, asking questions, finding
rhymes and rhythms and with great detachment,
simply having a grand time in the process.
The joy of having a writing aim is that
we begin to take writing from being something
we do to making it something we are - we are
words, we are rhythm, we are rhymes, we
are sometimes rigid and demanding and
othertimes fully inspired, completely flexible.
The joy of having a writing aim is that the
joy prevails no matter what shows up.
Is it time for you to have a writing aim?
Activate Your Passion.
© 2009
Julie Jordan Scott
http://www.writing-world.com/poetry/villanelle.shtml
A Villanelle Worksheet of sorts:
http://members.optushome.com.au/kazoom/poetry/villanelle.html
This essay was originally published in Daily Passion Activator, the ezine from Julie Jordan Scott. Subscribe today for free.
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