VILLANELLE............
A Villanelle Dialogue:

 

The Poet . . . . . . . . . . . .

. . . . . . . . . . . . .and The Juggler

 

Alas
Craig Tigerman, US
 

No other poem structure speaks so well
When I try putting feelings into verse
And so I guess I'm back to villanelle

I tried to write pantoum, but it was hell
To move those pairs of lines upwards, a curse
No other poem structure speaks so well

I thought with triolet I might excel
The more I tried, the more it sounded worse
And so I guess I'm back to villanelle

From sonnet's graces all too soon I fell
The thoughts and rhymes too difficult to nurse
No other poem structure speaks so well

A rondeau? What was that? I couldn't tell,
Had no idea how to keep it terse
And so I guess I'm back to villanelle

On death row now, each style in its cell
I execute and load into my hearse.
No other poem structure speaks so well
And so I guess I'm back to villanelle.

 

Yea Old Villanelle Juggler
John Daleiden, US

 

If whimsy were king, Craig would wear the crown!
So sleek, he stalks the tent like a jaguar;
Just watch him juggle words, the master clown!

Without a smile, his face wrinkled in frown,
He tosses out pantoums and smokes cigars;
If whimsy were king, Craig would wear the crown!

A prince of rhyme on stage in his hometown—
a rondeau, or sonnet, eludes this czar—
Just watch him juggle words, the master clown!

He tries each poetry to please the crowd—
triolet abandoned in the boudoir—
If whimsy were king, Craig would wear the crown!

Then, with sudden aplomb, his old renown, 
master supreme, he sings and plays guitar;
Just watch him juggle words, the master clown!

Streaking through cosmic sky after sundown
In Center Ring, the bright Villanelle Star;
If whimsy were king, Craig would wear the crown!
Just watch him juggle words, the master clown

 

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