This is lovely, Frank. I especially like the line about a feathered symphony. My first thought was of the soft "feathery" sound of the breeze through leaves, and then of course the birdsong came to mind. Both together, heavenly. I also love the artwork you chose to go with this. Well done.
Excellent read, my friend. I'm like a racehorse, desperate to run, in regards to posting my sonnet One Hundred Fifty Four. I'm holding back for now. As it is, I just wrote #254, sitting beside my daughter in her hospital bed, where I've been for the last 35 hours.
Been there. I really hope it all goes well with your daughter. I shall read as much as I can of your work. I have tried to put you on my list of recommended reads but as of now it is not showing up. I am only holding on to the technology by a slender thread.
To see the moment holds a madrigal,
To find some cloistered place, some hermitage
For free devices, some deliberate cage
Wherein to keep wild thoughts like birds in thrall;
I would say that difficult is a relative term. My personal relationship with Calliope is such that the rule-bound world of the sonnet does come easily to me. Free Verse, Lyrical, and Epic poetry all escape me. I've developed my own form that I call a Diciotto, if two examples make a form. I try my hand at fiction and through my Substack posts I'm developing my essayist abilities. We write because we must.
This is lovely, Frank. I especially like the line about a feathered symphony. My first thought was of the soft "feathery" sound of the breeze through leaves, and then of course the birdsong came to mind. Both together, heavenly. I also love the artwork you chose to go with this. Well done.
Wonderful Frank. Sonnets are bloody difficult to do. Your stack has quickly won a place in my must reads. I did a piece about T S Eliot. It's light hearted. https://titusarrius.substack.com/p/ts-eliot-for-dummies
Excellent read, my friend. I'm like a racehorse, desperate to run, in regards to posting my sonnet One Hundred Fifty Four. I'm holding back for now. As it is, I just wrote #254, sitting beside my daughter in her hospital bed, where I've been for the last 35 hours.
Been there. I really hope it all goes well with your daughter. I shall read as much as I can of your work. I have tried to put you on my list of recommended reads but as of now it is not showing up. I am only holding on to the technology by a slender thread.
To see the moment holds a madrigal,
To find some cloistered place, some hermitage
For free devices, some deliberate cage
Wherein to keep wild thoughts like birds in thrall;
To eat sweet honey and to taste black gall,
To fight with form, to wrestle and to rage,
Till at the last upon the conquered page
The shadows of created Beauty fall.
This is the sonnet, this is all delight
Of every flower that blows in every Spring,
And all desire of every desert place;
This is the joy that fills a cloudy night
When bursting from her misty following,
A perfect moon wins to an empty space.
Excellent.
I would say that difficult is a relative term. My personal relationship with Calliope is such that the rule-bound world of the sonnet does come easily to me. Free Verse, Lyrical, and Epic poetry all escape me. I've developed my own form that I call a Diciotto, if two examples make a form. I try my hand at fiction and through my Substack posts I'm developing my essayist abilities. We write because we must.
It's Lord Alfred Douglas by the way. I had a couple of books of his at one time. I just put that one in as a teaser!