It was suggested that my daily sonnet Is insufficient challenge- I should spread My wings and place a feather in my bonnet By writing daily villanelles instead. The form demands two oft-repeated rhymes To end five three-line stanzas, two refrains, Each of which is repeated several times And finally finished off with a quatrain. To … Continue reading August 27: On Villanelles, or, No Villanelles
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April 23: At Will
Today, I took a dear friend out to eat To celebrate his birthday, and we drank To health and love and spouses. Thus replete With good opinions, in our chairs we sank, Each falling into quiet contemplation. I marveled how four hundred fifty years Had compounded his worldwide reputation, Yet here we were, enjoying quips … Continue reading April 23: At Will
March 16: A Bee in One’s Sonnet
As Strindberg hated Ibsen's plays and strove To set himself an equal opposite, And Hellman sued McCarthy as she drove Herself into the grave over the split, Such passionate antipathy excites, As legendary treasure does marauder, And spurs an artist to undreamed of heights, As Dostoevsky found Turgenev fodder. But I can't think of any … Continue reading March 16: A Bee in One’s Sonnet
February 24: On Average
I thank the powers for this middling day, Which started with anticipatory tears, That grew into resolve to always play With creatures that I hope to have for years, Which made me impotent to rise and leave For work, when to my lap Giovanni leapt But running for the bus, I couldn't grieve The presence … Continue reading February 24: On Average
February 18: Mocking Bird
A mockingbird is not a nightingale, Although he also sings his song by night, With varied voice the world he will assail, In hopes a mate may on his branch alight. His repertoire of stolen melodies He recapitulates without a blush, And serenades through darkened hours with ease, No matter how much one desires hush. … Continue reading February 18: Mocking Bird
February 12: Concerning Haiku
A poem that has fourteen rhyming lines Without a turn is not a sonnet, true, And syllables, if carefully designed But lack a cut, do not comprise haiku. The forms, distinct, share one important trait: A change in tone dividing discrete parts. Instead of lines that basically conflate, Contrasting concepts fresh ideas impart. So if … Continue reading February 12: Concerning Haiku
February 1: So Long as Men Can Breathe
To read a sonnet written to a love Is to learn nothing of that paramour, We know the poet might have got her glove, But of her character we'll know no more. Who did she love? With whom had she rapport? What did she want of life? What were her dreams? Enduring fame from poet … Continue reading February 1: So Long as Men Can Breathe
January 31: Concerning Clerihews
A clever man was Edmund Clerihew Bentley; a novelist, comedic gem, And counted thus among the very few Who have a type of poem named for them. It started as a sort of schoolboy lark To help recall a chemist's famous deed, And with that salty rhyme he made his mark, And scribes like Auden … Continue reading January 31: Concerning Clerihews
January 30: Concerning Limericks
While sonnets have their devotees, too few Respect the limerick as poetry, While citing violations of taboo, As if perdition came from childish glee. Transgression, true, is in the poem's soul, To laugh at human idiosyncrasies, And mock the powers seeking to control Behavior and enforce morality. And yet, when I take up my pen … Continue reading January 30: Concerning Limericks
January 20: Eighteen And Up
Each moment has a truth that can be caught, In picture, memory, or written word, So even when the context is forgot, The meaning still is there to be inferred. So even though I lived too late too see Just who was darling as the buds of May, That is the least important part to … Continue reading January 20: Eighteen And Up
Libby Weber 