Rhian Crockett (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
rhian_crockett) wrote2013-07-04 08:59 pm
rhian_crockett) wrote2013-07-04 08:59 pm
Entry tags:
A Very Meta Villanelle
Today it's been hard to get anything done. Everywhere I turn, anxiety pops up. Like this.
Butlynnoconnacht was chatting with me, and suggested I write about how my mental health affects my creative work. The glib answer would be to screencap an empty Word document, but it's not quite that simple -- some aspects of writing help. As long as they have rules. So when I'm depressed or anxious, I'm unlikely to write a story (and free verse like yesterday's poem is rare), but I could write a sonnet. Or a villanelle.
So, for your delectation, I wrote a fairly bad villanelle about writing a villanelle to make myself feel better, to make myself feel better. CC BY-NC-SA, as before. The title is a reference to Sylvia Plath's Mad Girl's Love Song, just because it is also a villanelle and it has mad in the title.
Sing me moonstruck
Piece by piece, I assemble my art --
my defence, my spell, my secret intent,
the dam, lest this tear me apart.
It's easier to let go than once more to start
to turn back the way my courage went.
Piece by piece, I assemble my art:
a shield, a prayer, a map or chart,
a hope, when imagination's spent.
The dam, lest this tear me apart.
When there are no more words, nothing to impart
the form and rules still dissent
so piece by piece, I assemble my art --
a villanelle, a sonnet, a dart
of light, by other poets lent.
A dam, lest this tear me apart.
Line by line, beat on, my heart,
ignore the fear that nags, torments.
Piece by piece, I assemble my art --
the dam, lest this tear me apart.
But
lynnoconnacht was chatting with me, and suggested I write about how my mental health affects my creative work. The glib answer would be to screencap an empty Word document, but it's not quite that simple -- some aspects of writing help. As long as they have rules. So when I'm depressed or anxious, I'm unlikely to write a story (and free verse like yesterday's poem is rare), but I could write a sonnet. Or a villanelle.So, for your delectation, I wrote a fairly bad villanelle about writing a villanelle to make myself feel better, to make myself feel better. CC BY-NC-SA, as before. The title is a reference to Sylvia Plath's Mad Girl's Love Song, just because it is also a villanelle and it has mad in the title.
Sing me moonstruck
Piece by piece, I assemble my art --
my defence, my spell, my secret intent,
the dam, lest this tear me apart.
It's easier to let go than once more to start
to turn back the way my courage went.
Piece by piece, I assemble my art:
a shield, a prayer, a map or chart,
a hope, when imagination's spent.
The dam, lest this tear me apart.
When there are no more words, nothing to impart
the form and rules still dissent
so piece by piece, I assemble my art --
a villanelle, a sonnet, a dart
of light, by other poets lent.
A dam, lest this tear me apart.
Line by line, beat on, my heart,
ignore the fear that nags, torments.
Piece by piece, I assemble my art --
the dam, lest this tear me apart.