[Gregory Palmerino]

Ed is swinging from the rhymes in the Autumn Sky today.

Cheers,
Greg

[Susan McLean]

Excellent villanelle, with great plays on homonyms.

Susan

[Siham Karami]

Simply wonderful, as usual. Great way to start the day.

Siham

[Susan d.S.]

Much enjoyed!

[Ed Shacklee]

Thanks, guys. I love the form, but have never quite figured how it ticks. Still, who knows? I may be a proper villain someday.

Best,

Ed

[Martin Elster]

A fun villanelle, Ed! I love “plain/plane/explain.” It calls to mind a D&A competition a few years ago, which was to write a bouts-rimés on Keats’ “After dark vapors have oppress’d our plains.”

After dark vapors have oppress’d our plains
***For a long dreary season, comes a day
***Born of the gentle South, and clears away
From the sick heavens all unseemly stains.
The anxious month, relieved of its pains,
***Takes as a long-lost right the feel of May;
***The eyelids with the passing coolness play
Like rose leaves with the drip of Summer rains.
The calmest thoughts came round us; as of leaves
***Budding—fruit ripening in stillness—Autumn suns
Smiling at eve upon the quiet sheaves—
Sweet Sappho’s cheek—a smiling infant’s breath—
***The gradual sand that through an hour-glass runs—
A woodland rivulet—a Poet’s death.

[Jennifer Reeser]

Mr. Shacklee does not write a bad poem after his morning coffee. I am among his biggest fans. Thanks for this, Greg.

Jennifer