Friday, January 28, 2011

Anatomy of an Idea: A Thousand Strips of Parchment

Real brief this time: the originating idea for this villanelle was a concept that really resonates with me, the oracle / prophet and how they deal with the gift of foresight. How do you cope when there's no way to change the future? How do cope when there is? If you have this talent, how much should you sacrifice to share it? Or are other people better off ignorant?

A few years ago, I joined the Muse Online Writer's Workshop and signed up for the poetry class. Part of the course was to post a poem daily for critique. This was the second one I wrote specifically for the course - the first was The Rivers of Nowhere, which is still seeking a home. I very deliberately chose a hard rhyme scheme, knowing that the difficulty was multiplied when dealing with a villanelle. (Villanelles were one of the first kind of poetic form I'd ever worked with, and I had several under my belt at this point ... so I knew exactly what I was getting into.)

Some of the comments were helpful and assisted me in revising and tweaking the poem for its current home.

No comments: