For the month of November, it was obvious. We were going to write poems about being thankful. But of course, in true One Big Blank fashion, we can’t just write any kind of poem. We will have to write a villanelle. In case you are unfamiliar, a villanelle is a structured poem that features 19 lines: five tercets followed by a quatrain. Additionally, it must follow a rhyme scheme featuring two end rhyme sounds. Finally, it must include two lines called “refrains” that will be repeated throughout. A famous example of a villanelle is Do Not Go Gentle into that Good Night by Dylan Thomas.
Enjoy our collection of villanelles
No Longer Do I Trust My Brain
By James McCarter
No longer do I trust my brain.
Alas, it’s gone: my memory.
A return to youth I must attain.My banter has grown quite mundane,
Gone is my gift of witty repartee.
No longer do I trust my brain.The simplest words are now my bane.
Friends’ expressions prove they, too, agree.
A return to youth I must attain.Easily, the caster of my decline I ascertain.
“Erase this spell of slow descent,” is now my daily plea.
No longer do I trust my brain.Longevity’s reward seems petty, inhumane;
Filling my mind with confusion and debris.
A return to youth I must attain.Might Prevagen help me regain,
My yearned-for past to some degree?
No longer do I trust my brain.
A return to youth I must attain..
