It’s the last day of a very successful National Poetry Writing Month, and I greatly appreciate everyone who has read (and interacted!) with my posts: I feel like, just maybe, I have enough momentum to keep this “regular update” thing going! Stick around and I suppose we’ll see.
Meanwhile, my thirtieth entry for April follows NaPo’s prompt “to write a palinode – a poem in which you retract a view or sentiment expressed in an earlier poem.” I reread many of my posts and decided to revisit a triolet from the month’s halfway point, copied below for convenience:
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What point is there in trying to pretend
that walls of straw are better made than stone?
To build and rebuild houses without end,
what point is there? In trying to pretend
that wooden limbs could shelter and defend,
we mourn our loss where stronger winds have blown;
What point is there in trying to pretend
that walls of straw are better made than stone?
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Whatever metaphorical whirlwind I was caught up in for that post, another triolet seemed most appropriate for the retraction/ rebuttal :
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I’ve every faith in able builders’ hands,
no matter what materials they wield,
for straw or stone would bend to their command;
I’ve every faith. In able builders’ hands
are trusted tools and reputable plans
of artisans to whom the tempest yields.
I’ve every faith in able builders’ hands,
no matter what materials they wield.
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I definitely enjoyed this exercise in negating or questioning the theme of something I’d previously written: I think we could all stand to question our own convictions (and fictions) more often, and if I can climb over my ego— hello, fellow poets —maybe I’ll try to do so more often!
I’ve also begun experimenting with reading my poetry aloud and posting recordings for the world (wide web) to absorb and critique, so if that sounds like something you think you might enjoy, you’d be welcome over on my TikTok page: https://www.tiktok.com/@fall_of_adam (heads-up, poetry hasn’t been my primary content over there, so continue at your own discretion).
Once again, thanks to all of my readers, to the writers who I’ve been (mostly silently) stalking this month, and of course to NaPoWriMo for hosting another enchanting month! Write on, my partners-in-rhyme.