When Muses Laughed
A Cycle of Poems
1. Sonnet: The Invitation
What muse has touched the lash upon your eye?
What tender thoughts has she provoked within?
A deeper ocean there within resides,
Where muses bathe in waters warm as sin.
It’s there I saw a ghost of you swim by,
T’was just a glimpse, a play within a play,
I asked the muses then if they would lie?
And with a laugh, “Indeed we do!” said they.
With this, mistrusting everything alike,
As muses fraught with arrows leap and bound,
I’ll set the veil upon a pointy spike,
And utter hence to you in gentle sounds;
If whispered soft my pleas could warm your skin,
Let tender fingers touch where muses reign.
2. Limerick: The Answer
I sent a poor man a love sonnet
And let him set down there upon it.
He struggled for hours,
To say his not nowers,
For there on his head was a bonnet.
3. Senryu: The Resolve
Therein lies the cat,
Revealing the knead, a claw
Soft purring soothes heart
Notes on inspiration: a thank you to master sonnet writer Scott Ennis, (and let us not forget The Bard himself) for the tutelage on sonnet writing, to the memory of Dorothy Parker for the humor in cynical response, and to my cat, Marlow, with whom I am passionately in love.
22 comments:
The contrast of the tender sonnet with the limmerick is superb! The forms highlight the vast differences in both the lover and the beloved and the seriousness with which each considers the fact of the love itself.
"It's there I saw a ghost of you swim by,
T'was just a glimpse, a play within a play,"
and
"He struggled for hours,
To say his not nowers,"
Finally, the senyru, with its play on words is fabulous.
I'm beginning to wonder if there is any part of you that isn't creative?
A great Valentine's Day treat.
Cat, I appreciate your talent. Trying to rhyme is one step too far for me, I don't choose not to because it fits my art so much as that when I do I always end with hokey crap. Sometimes I will write 12 lines with a final rhyming couplet, but never because I started with that in mind. I don't start with anything more than the first phrase or sometimes the central image in mind.
Karen, I so love reading your comments, you are such a great blogging friend, and your poetry is so excellent that it is always wonderful for me to hear what you have to say about mine. I thank you greatly.
Christopher-I'm about 50/50 between free verse and form. I find form to be very compelling in playing with words and forcing them to be poetry and not doggerel. Sonnets have particular appeal to me as of late, although sticking with anything is not something I'm good at. Except creative effort, of that I can honestly say I've been successful at sticking with my entire life, in one form or another.
This is a beautiful post.
Happy Valentine's Day
Steady On
Reggie Girl
Cat I am speechless. I clicked to read the new post when I am on my way out the door--big mistake! I will be back to savor this. I am in awe of the many dimensions of your talent!!
Oh Cat, how wonderful! I love the clever transition from Sonnet to Limerick, to Senryu. Love the play of language.
Skillful how you let the structure of the poem guide you. You have allowed the feeling & movement of the sonnet to take the poem to the next line. The turns here have allowed for complete freedom of expression. You have made me want to try my hand at iambic pentameter again!!
Thanks (I think)
Marlow sure was a good sport in playing along!
I could never write a sonnet as good as this; come to think of it, I could never write a sonnet.
Limerick maybe, sonnet never, senryu I don't know.
So every time you amaze me discovering one of your many talents. I love the way you traveled from Sonnet to Limerick to Senyru...
Rhyme or no rhyme you express it wonderfully and precisely. You do not force the issue with rhyme as many do...
Waiting for one of your beautiful surprises.
Happy Valentine's Day dear Cat!!
wunderbra, cat :O lol
Thanks Cat. Hope you got out and had a good hike today.
This is great Cat, and I love love love rhyming, I'm trying so hard myself to write stuff that is not rhyming because I get a little ocd with it. Awesome stuff!
Midlife- :-) Thank you!
Jennifer-I know, I get so distracted by the blogs that at times I burn the food I'm trying to cook. It's an addiction! Thank you!
K. Thanks! I challenge you to write a sonnet! (I know it will be great!) And Marlow always plays along, he's the best cat in all the universe.
JR- Thank you for the very kind compliment! I bet you could do it all, somehow I'm sure your sonnet would be delightfully ominous.
Khaled- as long as it almost rhymes it's good. ;-) If I can't find a word that works, I'll just make one up! Thanks for your wonderful comments.
Laughingwolf- I'm very glad you laughed! ;-)
Scott - I did get in a great hike and also a walk. Good thing because today it's raining! Hope you had a great bike ride today.
Elle-Thanks! If you want to try a sonnet, go to Scott's website, he has great instructions on how to go about writing one. They are fun as can be once you get the hang of it. It'll drive your ocd habit right over the edge. ;-)
Happy Valentine's Day all! I love you all very much.
Great work Cat! I must admit, the cat bits are my fav.
BTW, the kitties here both agree: Marlow rocks!!!
Happy Valentine's Day, G
Geraldine, You tell your kitties that Marlow sends them each a chocolate filled morsel. ;-)
The sonnet was beautiful, but I have to admit my favorite lines came in the limerick: He struggled for hours, To say his not nowers made me laugh out loud!
I love your playfulness, and as always, your eagerness to embrace any challenge you can design for yourself, Cat. Your muses must always be bathing or laughing. :)
(Hope you had a wonderful Valentine's Day!!)
You have scored on so many levels with this! I am too incompetent to post a critical comment on this one (Not that I want to :) )!
You just blew me over with the Limerick! I am in complete awe!
Say my hello to Marlow! Am sure he is the luckiest cat to have you looking after him!
Thanks Sarah! I'm so glad you laughed. That was absolutely the intention in writing the limerick, so I'm very glad to hear it is effective. ;-)
Hi Aniket! Glad to see you again!! Marlow sure does have it far luckier here then many of his billions of cousins around the globe who are left to fend for themselves. He is a fat happy cat who never stops purring except to sleep or to bat me off when I kiss him too much.
This is FANTASTIC, Cat! Bravo! Absolutely superb!
Vesper- :-) Thank you!
Awesome poetry,all three of them.Nice to know where you derive your inspiration from :)
P.S. Belated V-Day wishes and Hello to Marlow :)
Sameera-And to you too! And Marlow says meow!
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