Poetry: Earth Week

 Yes, all this week has been Earth Week! (That's the way I look at it) Unfortunately, I have no Earth poems to share with you, simply because I didn't find one I really liked. I have been reading poems on the Poetry Foundation website that are the certain poems we are supposed to write this week. (Pantoum, Villanelle, etc.) and I found I do like those a lot. At first, it was really frustrating to write the pantoum and villanelle poems (the others are still in progress) and I didn't really want to do them. I spent a really long time on both of them (which is sort of annoying because I still have other things I should finish), but I am still pretty pleased with how they turned out. It was actually really fun to try and fit the structure, and to find rhymes for a whole poem with only two words to rhyme with. The pantoum was also a fun challenge, because there were very specific limits with structure, but at the same time no limits on what it was about. I had to take one line and keep rephrasing it and rephrasing it because otherwise it sounded sort of weird as the next line. I think I'll definitely need to change a few things with them, but I'm not sure exactly what yet.

     Anyway, I was getting to a point, which was that writing these poems has given me a better appreciation for the other poems that are in that form. I was reading a double sestina and I had to wonder who really had the patience to write one. (One 39 line poem is more than enough for me) Most of the new poems that I found that I do like are in that structure. The House on the Hill by Edwin Arlington Robinson, which is a villanelle poem, is sort of sad, but I also like it. (If you read about the poet, it says something about how he was the poet of unhappiness or something like that) I added that to my notebook, and realize that I also had the poem One Art in my notebook which I may or may not have mentioned before. (It's also a villanelle) How could you not like villanelles? Even the name is neat. (It reminds me of a female villain, wait, that would be villianette) I like how the meaning of the line (usually) changes with every time that it's used, and how a clever line at the beginning can make a really good ending.

     I also found a poem this week that I like called My House is the Red Earth by Joy Harjo. I'm honestly not quite sure why I like it so much, but I do. I also read a poem called Eating Poetry, which was a little strange. I don't think I really liked it, but I thought I should still mention it. I also read a poem called September Elegies which is a sad pantoum about four boys who committed suicide because of bullying, which, although is not my very favorite or anything, I thought used the structure of a pantoum very effectively. I know this poem is out of season...

An Autumn Greeting

"Come," said the Wind to the Leaves one day.

"Come over the meadow and we will play.

Put on your dresses of red and gold.

For summer is gone and the days grow cold."