Rondelet: Mindful Poetry's Form-of-the-Month for August, 2012

 

 

August lands on my calendar like a live trout. I've hooked it and reeled it in, but now it's on the deck and I'm bending at the waist, scrambling to catch it and hold it up for the camera. In the end, I face the lens with my smile afixed holding nothing but a rod and slimy hands. Another one got away!

Our form for this month uses whole line repetition so we'll have lots of chances to catch the right words. It's short so we can read one anothers' work inbetween last minute chores like haircuts, buying school supplies, packing those college-kids off for higher education, one more round of croquet, and on and on.

To write a roundelet, start with a good idea and do not swerve. This form is truly brief at two rhymes and 44 syllables in total. Caroline O'Brien provides us with an example that uses a meter more pleasing than the teaching rondelet I've written below.

Seven Lines of Rondelet

Keep it short, 'K?
Form obsesses on one thought
Keep it short, 'K?
Four bites in refrain, I'm taught
Rhymes alternate B and A
Longer lines, eight counts are sought
Keep it short, 'K?

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Last month we worked on blank verse, so keenly not my strength, but not impossible either. A few were submitted within the last couple days of July and I have not commented on them, but those I have seen push me into a realm of desire. I would love to attain the metronomic rhythm and simultaneous lucidity that has been offered by our Mindful Poetry members.

I encourage you to have a look at our featured poems. These resonant blank verse poems will be featured until next week. After that time, as with any form, go to our homepage and enter the form you seek in the search box specifically for Mindful Poetry.

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A couple details: when you submit your poem to Mindful Poetry, please be certain you have tagged it with the form identified. Sometimes I use tags to generate lists and compile statistics. But tags aren't for my benefit alone, tags also ensure that I'll accept your submission into our group more quickly.

When you are reading one of our members' poems and you wonder if it's adhering to the form, don't be shy. Tactfully wonder, "I'm not so sure I'm following how this is a villanelle. I thought the rhyme scheme was a-b-a..." for example.

Our 2012 Poet Laureate, John Beck, has pointed out misunderstandings that I have had regarding form. We are a learning group and each of us can be a teacher. I love how we support and cheer one another, let's keep that momentum going!