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Good news: Two of my poems were accepted for publication in The Write City Magazine, an e-zine of the Chicago Writers Association. Now, isn’t that a jumpstart to the new year! Both of these poems, “Winter Solace” and “Autumn’s Myth” are written in the English madrigal form, a form with which I was unfamiliar until 2014 when I participated in a Poem A Day (PAD) Challenge, organized by Writer’s Digest. The only way I can describe my connection with the madrigal is to recall the sense one gets when meeting a person for the first time and feeling you’ve known him/her forever. That’s how I connect with this poetic pattern, and when I sit to write a madrigal, an old soul’s voice resonates in my mind. The 13-lined format, developed by Geoffrey Chaucer, is made up of a tercet, a quatrain, and sestet with every line written in iambic pentameter. The lines within the first stanza (the tercet) are used as refrains. Here is the pattern: A B1 B2 a b A B1 a b b A B1 B2 When I posted my poem “You” (which later became “Rain”) on the WD discussion board, three participants commented on the lyrical element of my piece. I was ecstatic that others heard it, that it wasn’t just me who felt the song I created through this form.
I like to experiment with writing genres, and when it comes to poetry, I enjoy the experience of new forms, but I think I’ll always return to the madrigal. Last night, as a winter storm was revving its engine, I came up with the poem “Hope” and linked it to a beautiful photo by the talented Robin L. Rolder. (I shared it here.) I hope you, too, will try your hand at the madrigal. If you do, please share in the comments! Happy Writing! Comments are closed.
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