Monday, September 27, 2010

Villanelle

The villanelle I wrote for my poetry class. I like the first line and nothing else about it. It's got a lot of work, but I did have a lot of fun with this form.

Watch me cleave this cleanly
like the good meat from a ham bone.
I follow the lines, discreetly

work around joints and muscle. We
eat by the bay window,
you watch light cleanly cleave

squares of yellow on the floor. Meekly
see me butcher the meal. I won’t
follow any lines when weak

with hunger. Do it meanly,
in the way I’ve shown
you how. Careful and cleanly

showing me up, you tweak
my style and claim it as your own.
You don’t even do it discreetly,

as if you were the only one hungry
for bodies fully grown.
Stop. Watch me cleave us, cleanly
following lines and not discreet.

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