Bad Villanelle – Oh Well!
— Sadie Bailey —
What I’m writing now is not
the Great Poem, no Masterpiece –
it’s really not so hot.
Doesn’t matter that I’m on the spot,
or if I want to win the Nobel Prize;
what I’m writing now, will not.
Poetry and prose and all that rot
about the golden fields and fluffy clouds –
it’s really not so hot.
It’s no big deal if my poem is “rot” –
or if poems are antidotes for fleas;
What I’m writing now, is not.
Noble thoughts, or even a good plot
would help this writing get a whole new lease –
it’s really not so hot.
Although my poem could suggest a lot –
Though it could have profound and lofty thought-
What I’m writing now does not.
It’s really not so hot.
Very clever, Sadie! The form is so hard but you’ve make it look easy as well as funny. Golly. Reminds me of Billy Collins’ sonnet:
https://www.poetryarchive.org/poem/sonnet
Cool, Sadie!
I am a fan of Francois Villon, the guy who invented the poetic form you’ve used. He lived and wrote in the early 1400s.
Many years ago, sitting at a New York coffee-house table, I listened while an acquaintance, a real live professional poet, composed a very funny triolet, which is another of those antique poetic forms.
I’ll recite it to you, some day.
thanks, Jackie! Steve, I look forward to hearing you recite that triolet!