Thanks, all. I now suspect that I was looking for the open-minded responses I got from Chris, Bill, and my Salt Sister!--but I appreciate everyone's attention to my questions.

Best,
Jean

Received form is a gift for which I'm grateful. Here's a quote from an essay by Alicia Stallings:

But what was exhilarating was, I think, that what came out of this was that the tradition and form were not about exclusion or elitism or who owns or is allowed to do what. It was about inclusion and access and taking all things human as belonging to everybody, about the ongoing conversation, dialogue really, of the dead and the living, about owing the canon not an obligation of respect and deference, to put it in a museum, but an obligation to pass it forward, to add to it, enrich it, keep it alive, take it into the future.

Perfect, Mems! Spot on!

Hollander's ghazal reflects a common use of the form in the source countries. The ghazal is often a vehicle for humor in Farsi and the other languages that embraced the form. It is perhaps comparable to the villanelle, which framed the somber "Do Not Go Gentle" but is more often these days used for the humorous potential of its recurring rhymes.

Ooh, just what I wanted to hear, Mike! And thanks, Mary and Salt, for reinforcement.

Best,
Jean