A couple of notes before we get into the form of the day:
1. I have not written in form for quite some time now. And I have not written anything at all for half that time. I had written in free-verse in the interim. I don’t post them online, but you can check out some of my work in Hemingway’s Playpen’s issue 2 and nin journal‘s vol. 1, issue 1 (NSFW).
2. I’ve restructured the way I normally post (as you will see in this one) to make my posts more organized. I.e., paragraphs will be divided into sections.
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FORM OF THE DAY
I decided to go with the Echo Sonnet today.
An echo sonnet has the rhyme scheme:
A,b,b,A1 | a,c,c,A1 | a,d,d,A1 | A,A1
where:
A, A1, and a rhyme together;
A1 is a refrain repeated at the end of every stanza;
and b, c, and d rhyme separately.
An echo sonnet is essentially three quatrains that end in a refrain, concluded by a couplet with the first line (A) and the refrain (A1). According to The Poets Garret, it should be in iambic pentameter and must be presented as a 14 line poem, being a sonnet and all.
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THE POEM
Image: Shutterstock
Positively Depressed
The evening always has say in its hue,
the way that I have no say in feeling
the way I feel from night to its morning.
But valor, tonight, is a shade of blue–
such that I never even before knew
could mean exiting beds, lighting up halls,
every bone desperately clinging to walls.
But valor, tonight, is a shade of blue,
reminds that for every thing I can’t do,
my sluggish strides fall lighter to the ground
breaking experience into words profound,
for valor, tonight, is a shade of blue.
The evening always has say in its hue,
and valor, tonight, is a shade of blue.
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PERSONAL THOUGHTS
This part of the post can be skipped. This is just where I put how I felt writing my poem.
This is the first form poem I’ve taken seriously since I went through my contemporary poetry phase (which I am still in, by the way; I’ve just simply found a compromise). In 2011, I was religious the way I capitalized every line; whereas, I now only capitalize per thought.
It’s very surreal seeing how much my poetry has changed over the past few years. It’s not technically better or worse; I just think it fits the way I feel more now. It feels more comfortable and a little less contrived.
I do have to say that I cheated. This poem is not completely iambic. Actually, I didn’t even pay attention if it was.
I saw why The Poets Garret emphasized why it had to be presented as a 14-line poem. I originally wrote my poem as separate stanzas, and I found myself detesting it. But once I pieced it together, the thoughts flowed into each other, and I liked it more.
That’s a little something I picked up from working on contemporary poetry (or is it post-post modern poetry that they call it now?): Sometimes, the way lines and words are broken up or pieced together help the reader see words differently and produce a different train of thought.
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Anyway, feel free to give the poetic form a try, link back to the post, or leave a link to yours below. I would love to see what you lovely people come up with.
Poeformology 