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Poetic License: ‘I Will Not Write a Villanelle’

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Joe Pacheco

I will not write a villanelle,

Sestina, sonnet or pantoum

Unless I learn to craft one well.

Let Collins keep his paradelle

For those whose poetry has the room,

I will not write a villanelle.

For some the form has cast a spell,

For others it will spell their doom

Unless they learn to craft one well.

Rondeau, triolet or rondel

None of these would I dare to groom

Until I write a villanelle.

Some poets grind them out pell-mell

But I’ll not force my muse to bloom

Until I learn to grow one well.

Thomas used one to rage like hell,

And Robinson his “House” to gloom,

They did not write a villanelle

Until they learned to craft one well.