an autumn week in poetry
this week's publications
Hello friends,
It has been all poetry this week! Well, actually I have been writing in my memoir as well, but it will be a while before that is ready for publishing! So this week’s published work on Medium has been all about poetry.
Are you interested in poetry forms? I am and have been since grade school. To me, poetry is a lovely thing halfway between prose writing and song, and I feel that structure is an integral part of its beauty. I do write free verse also because I staunchly believe in the power of the words themselves, but often it is more fun to increase the structure, play with the wonder of what one can actually do with words when they themselves become music.
This week I have written two sonnets because there is a sonnet theme which I am (somewhat distantly!) following on Medium. The first is a classic English-style sonnet, which has a very straightforward rhyme scheme over the typical fourteen line stanzas. (ABAB CDCD EFEF GG, for those of you who are interested.) The second (To a Monarch Butterfly, October) was supposed to be in the old Italian form known as Petrarchan, which has a more sophisticated rhyme scheme… which I partly forgot as I wrote, getting intrigued in just making the poem… Well, and perhaps there is no harm in that! ;) I shall try to complete one in full Petrarchan form for the fun and beauty of it. And soon, perhaps, the theme will include the sonnet form developed by Edmund Spenser—a very demanding rhyme scheme, which I used to play with before I was even in high school. Perhaps one is braver when younger? I haven’t written a Spenserian sonnet since! It’s high time to revisit the form, with its fluid grace moving (apparently effortlessly in Spenser’s hands at least) from line to line to line. But that is yet to come…
And I did, in fact, write a free verse poem as well: this is Apples and Cabbages, a poem for the season we have just entered. From time to time, I find myself writing the sorts of things I would have enjoyed as a child—poetry about nature was certainly a favorite of mine.
I have been thinking about all sorts of ideas for my subscribers. I have compiled some of my recent poems and hope to send them as a PDF collection to all of you soon. If you have any thoughts or ideas for me, please do let me know what you would like!
Wishing all of you the very best,
Amy Myers
This week’s poetry: