Well, here I am, back again spreading dissension, muddying the waters, and causing all kinds of strife. My apologies!
On closing the sale, consider Bishop's famous villanelle
"One Art": villanelles are notoriously hard, but I think she gets the job done there. (And, incidentally, a poem dealing with the same theme we've sort of adumbrated here and that Alan sees as inescapable.)
Before abandoning that "gay" theme, remember the language of division, enclosure, and escape (freedom). "That Bishop--she's an odd duck"--or bird.
Yes, I definitely see the mirror bevel as doing what I'm pretty sure we've all scene prisms do--off goes the light in a rainbow--a rainbow bird set free. A bird imprisoned in the glass just as the bubble is in the level.
Not a "thud" or a "bump" to end this, but a powerful and
sad and poignant cry.
Why sonnet? Well, I once did a 14-line, metrical poem in rhyme (but without either Italian or English structure) and every luminary at West Chester I showed it to assumed it was a sonnet--but it was in tetrameter. Alan's point is well-taken: people shouldn't be criticizing Brad Leithauser for the monometer, but for the weakness of the thought and expression--i.e., the technique is neutral, the conception neutral, but the execution (no jokes, please) pretty limp.
Cheers to all
