AsteriaSinclair

Warning: Fixed Form Poetry Approaching The villanelle is a fixed form of poetry originating from the French that has grown in popularity in the English language. Over the years, the traditional villanelle has been put to great use by many notable poets, including, Dylan Thomas, Sylvia Plath, Elizabeth Bishop, Edwin Arlington Robinson, Theodore Roethke, and Oscar Wilde (double villanelle in traditional). There are also many wonderful, more modern and progressive examples of the form by poets today, such as  Dan Lechay's Ghost Villanelle (traditional; altered language),  Steven Cramer's Villanelle After a Burial (traditional; altered punctuati

Writers paint pictures that painters can't.

Bird girl knows that          she can fly. She spreads her arms          free and wide-- the surf down low,          the sky up; toes at cliff's edge,          set to glide. He takes her wrists,          holds her back. He speaks to her,          a soft plea. His words are wind          on her back. She steps. She falls          in the sea.