Villanelle

Again with the poetry class- my husband's assignment this weekend was to write a villanelle. This is an atrocious form. I've been sick this weekend, and in between naps and hacks, I took a stab at it. Just finished it up. (Anyone who knows me well knows also that I'm not a big fan of rum. But it had to rhyme 'cause, ya know, it's a form.)

Villanelle
2 February 2008, 10:07 PM

This villanelle’s a task that’s got me beat.
I’ve racked my brain all day but it won’t come—
a masochistic, unrelenting feat.

I leave the effort for a bite to eat
and find myself a gorgeous little crumb.
This villanelle’s a task that’s got me beat.

Before I sit down with my new-found treat,
my poem and this cake could use some rum,
a masochistic, unrelenting feat

Procrastination’s futile—my defeat
inevitable—man do I feel dumb.
This villanelle’s a task that’s got me beat.

This form could drive a man into complete
insanity—I'm gonna need more rum—
a masochistic, unrelenting feat.

I don’t know why I try, I can’t complete
the rhyme and meter—where the hell’s my rum?
This villanelle’s a task that’s got me beat.

I lay ashide my pen and prop my feet—
thish villandelle can kish my shiny bum.
A mashochishtic, unlerenting feat—
Thish villanelle’sh a tashk that’sh got me beat.