ManicDDaily

I am a great lover of villanelles.  I am reposting “Villain-elle” today because it illustrates an important tool in villanelle writing: contrast. 

Contrast in poetry, the subject of a thoughtful prompt by Victoria C. Slotto for dVerse Poets Pub , is a useful tool for effects in all poetry, but it is especially useful in the repeating, and potentially static,  lines of a villanelle.  Contrast in a villanelle can come through changes in meaning, homonyms, enjambment (the breaking up and running over of lines), elephants.   (Note that I tried to put the lines of the poem in the drawings but they are incomplete and blurry so I’ve put them below each drawing, and the full poem below that.)  (I am also linking this poem to the poets’ rally.)

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.

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.

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

P.S.  If you like humor, poetry or elephants, don’t forget to check out my books NOSE DIVE, GOING ON SOMEWHERE and 1 MISSISIPPI on Amazon.  Thanks much.

P.P.S. = Accidentally dropped “Whack” painting from first posting of this.  So sorry!  (Kind of tired when posting but had a nap now!)