My poem Villanelle: 2020, originally published in Grand Little Things has been reprinted in Elayne Clift’s collection entitled Poetry from the Pandemic, published by University Professors’ Press. Elayne anticipates readings in New England and California during the upcoming months. I hope to participate!
I usually write free verse, but during this tumultuous period of Covid19 and politics and strangeness, I am taking comfort from traditional forms of poetry. When stressed, I turn to iambic pentameter, I guess.
I am intrigued by the complexity and simplicity of the villanelle form. Famous ones include Roethke’s “Waking” and Dylan Thomas’s “Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night.” Repeated lines, repeated rhymes….it’s a kind of haunting form. Tercets and a quatrain and all that good stuff.
The new publication GRAND LITTLE THINGS just published my latest villanelle. Many thanks to Patrick Fey, the editor.
You can read it using the link or below.
https://grand-little-things.com/2020/10/04/villanelle-2020-by-gabriella-brand/
Villanelle 2020 Each day, these days, I make the time for grief It's not just sadness, but a form of prayer: I watch the world unfolding, turn its leaf. A plague marauding, silent like a thief, The cities stilled, a waiting in the air Each day, these days, I make the time for grief Autumn comes,the grain encased in sheaf I don't remember harvest quite so rare I watch the world unfolding, turn its leaf. Things falls apart, renew,and test belief I search for hope, and dance against despair Each day, these days, I make the time for grief Because I know that permanence is brief And filaments are fragile, prone to wear I watch the world unfolding, turn its leaf I ride the breeze, the stars, to find relief Acknowledge kindness when I see it there Each day, these days, I make the time for grief I watch the world unfolding, turn its leaf.
Gabriella Brand 