Petrarch

he set himself up to write the sonnet

one hell of a difficult exercise

to write something of the Petrarchan size

but to win the day is to get on it

 

yet his head is wrapped up in the bonnet

tied up within the free-verse enterprise

Petrarch left minor room for compromise

but the hungry one, the one that wants it

 

so he writes hard, writes long until it falls

something bad, something wrong, maybe profound

something that swells up from deep underground

no longer contained with in the four walls

the mental confines have become rubble

what is left is not just burned-up stubble

Author's Note

Ugh. My first attempt at writing a sonnet. This is far from my best effort. It may even be my worst.

Reviews

[MOON]

Lovely , great first right profound!

[Kenneth The Poet]

Thanks, MOON.

[kublakhan27]

Sorry I haven't commented much in a while man, I've been all over the place...this is great stuff though...I'd say you did a fine job with it.

[Kenneth The Poet]

Thanks, KK. Glad you stopped by.

[Coyote Poetry]

You did very well with format. I took 10 writer's courses in the early eighties. I didn't like to put my poetry into format. A sonnet is poetry with heart and tale. Thank you for sharing the excellent poem.
Coyote

[Kenneth The Poet]

Thank you, Coyote. I have never taken a poetry course. I just looked at some websites.

[KAOlmsted]

Ha! I love it...anything that challenges and demands the writer step out of their comfort zone is aces in my book. Even if it's not your best effort, it's an effort, although I almost think it should go abab cdcd efef gg...you've got abba cddc effe gg...meh...whatever though. I liked it. Mostly because it was a tongue-in-cheek summation of your woeful attempts at sonnet writing ;-)

[Kenneth The Poet]

Thanks, KA. Thank you for the vote of confidence.

[KAOlmsted]

XD

C'mon...I liked it!

And in case you weren't being sarcastic...you're welcome ;-)

[Kenneth The Poet]

I was not. I am quite appreciative.

[An owl on the moon]

Ah, an excellent first attempt that turns and twists into the mind of the poet and the page. I honestly don't think I've ever written a sonnet... Seems quite the challenge for the brain!

[Kenneth The Poet]

Thank you, Craig. It's a trip to say the least.

[The Rock And Roll Cowbo..]

I might have to read this Petrarch now... you would have made a great publicist for him.

[Kenneth The Poet]

Thanks, Dale. Glad you like it.

[Emily B]

i have to respect the discipline it takes to write in forms . . . good job

[Kenneth The Poet]

Thank you Emily.

[Michael Kevin Spencer]

This flows so well I wasn't even aware it was a sonnet! I definitely think you could write more, perhaps one for Wordsworth, Coleridge, Keats, etc...it would be kinda cool. Petrarch was one of the innovators of a 'poor little me' attitude towards pinning after the beloved that I actually find charming.

It's humility at the feet of the beloved! You know who has some mean sonnets? Michelangelo, people don't realize the kind of heart that man possessed!

[Kenneth The Poet]

I should look them up and see what they wrote. I wasn't much of a classics man. The most "classic" I ever went as Dr. Seuss who was the master of anapestic meter. Count me as a Shel Silverstein fan as well. I could try my hand at it. Thanks for the review.

[Michael Kevin Spencer]

I once tried to read Silverstein, I'm not sure I made it far, but this will definatley make me try him again.

[Robin]

Viva Freestyle ! that said I wont rant .. and will say, you followed the rules and got your point across - success

construct your own Form ... I am thinking something along the lines of Prime numbers ...

[Kenneth The Poet]

I did, published a book on it too.

[Robin]

Bravo !

[Jeremy Baker]

It's damned hard to do, and I think this is a pretty reasonable effort all round. I really admire that you've had a go at all, never mind that you nailed it so sweetly with topic and rhyme. Good work!

[Kenneth The Poet]

Thank you, Jeremy. I must agree. I was looking around Wikipedia this morning to see what they had on just "the sonnet". It's a treasure trove.