I first posted this for the DVerse Poets Pub “form for all” challenge, hosted by Gay Reiser Cannon, of making a “Shaped” or “Concrete Poem,” and now I am linking to Poetry Rally.
Agh. For me, making a concrete poem feels like hitting my head against a wall. (I’m just not a concrete kind of gal.) I should try it for exactly that reason, I suppose, but instead I’ve opted for more of an illustrated poem. (Yes, it’s a bit silly. I am, I guess, a silly kind of a gal.)
I tried to post this draft poem from my iPad just to see if I could. (I couldn’t.) The effort may have put a crimp in my poetic style! (Ha!) On the other hand, mucking about with technology was a great escape from thinking. Oh well.
All rights reserved. Suggestions welcomed.
Unfortunately, it’s a bit hard to read the text in the pictures (it’s kind of small and blurry), so I have printed the full text below the pictures. Jump to that, if you can’t read on the frames.
Here’s the poem without elephants!
VILLAIN-ELLE
He twirled his ‘stache when he thought no one could see
and kept away from rope and railroad track,
for a cartoon villain was not what he would be–
what he sought was originality.
Wearing a hat that was not quite white, nor black,
he twirled his ‘stache when he thought no one could see,
until the day he met that Miss Bonnee,
whose single smile made all his knees go slack.
Though a cartoon villain was not what he would be,
she steered him to a classic robbery,
a bank heist with a gun, a car out back,
He twirled his ‘stache when he thought no one could see,
but see they could, if only digitally.
She whispered, as she relieved him of the sack,
that cartoon villain was not what he would be,
“my hero,” and other murmured fiddle-dee,
till his bent head received a good hard whack.
She twirled her stash when she thought no one could see.
A cartoon villain was not what she would be.
All rights reserved.
P.S. If you like villanelles, look at that category or tag on the site, as I’ve posted a bunch.
Villain-elle
Here’s what the poem looks like in unillustrated (stanzaic – is that a word?) form:
Villain-elle
He twirled his ‘stache when he thought no one could see
and kept away from rope and railroad track,
for a cartoon villain was not what he would be–
what he sought was originality.
Wearing a hat that was not quite white, nor black,
he twirled his ‘stache when he thought no one could see.
Until the day he met that Miss Bonnee
whose single smile made all his knees go slack.
Though a cartoon villain was not what he would be,
she steered him to a classic robbery,
a bank heist with a gun, a car out back.
He twirled his ‘stache when he thought no one could see,
but see they could, if only digitally.
She whispered, as she relieved him of the sack,
that a cartoon villain was not what he would be.
‘My hero’, she sighed, and other fiddle-dee.
Then his bent head received a good hard whack.
She twirled her stash when she thought no one could see.
A cartoon villain was not what she would be.
(@ Karin Gustafson, 2009)
If you are interested in more Villanellia, check out prior posts re how to write them.
If you are interested in elephants, check out 1 Mississippi at link above.
From "A Definite Spark", an illustrated pantoum, copyright Karin Gustafson
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