Here's a toughie (although the end result will only be eight lines long, but you'll have to sweat blood to get there).
Sometimes it can be helpful to constrain yourself, so that once you cast the constraints off, the liberty to write as you please feels particularly potent and exciting. With this in mind, try writing a troilet. This is a poem which consists of eight lines of verse in which you use only two rhymes: the first line is repeated as the fourth and the seventh, and the second as the eighth. Still with me? It should come out something like this:
First line
Second line
Third line
First line
Fourth line
Fifth line
First line
Second line.
It's a question of cramping your style in order to be able to develop it further. It's wonderful for concentrating the mind, as well.
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ReplyDeleteVicious Circle
ReplyDeleteBecause I feel ashamed, myself I blame
and with that thought the vicious circle turns.
Regret is merciless as steel rain
because I feel ashamed. Myself I blame
for failing to perceive the truth again.
The bitter taste of self-deception burns
because I feel ashamed. Myself I blame
and in that fault the vicious circle turns.
There was me thinking I'd set a really hard challenge and you make it look effortless and elegant. Move over Elizabeth Bishop et al... It's interesting to see the way in which the form expresses the obsessiveness with which thoughts can turn around and around inside one's head.
ReplyDeleteYes, I thought I'd exploit the form. Actually, I've changed it a bit since then - as I always do. Will bring it along to next meeting.
ReplyDelete