Sunday, December 5, 2010--A Villanelle...

According to The Poet's Companion by KIm Addonizio and Dorianne Laux, a villanelle is "a nineteen-line poem of five tercets (three-line stanzas)  and a closing quatrain (four lines). Two lines in the poem get repeated throughout the entire poem, in a particular order; additionally, there's a rhyme scheme: the tercets rhyme aba, the quatrain abaa." (161)
It looks like this:
a1 (repeating line)
b
a2 (repeating line)

a
b
a1

a
b
a2

a
b
a1

a
b
a2

a
b
a1
a2

A good example is "The Story We Know" by Martha Collins.

Here's one I wrote a few years ago:

Unexpected Treat

Relentless winter winds blow

from dark of night to day’s full light,

chilling to the marrow.

One blue black crow

sits swaying, his tree top perch a fight-

relentless winter winds blow.

He stares across the meadow

searching with piercing eyesight,

chilling to the marrow.

He spots a shape, a distant shadow-

this whets his appetite.

Relentless winter winds blow.

It’s a dead, white-throated sparrow,

covered in parasites-

chilling to the marrow.

He flies like an archer’s arrow,

eats it in three swift bites.

Relentless winter winds blow,

chilling to the marrow.

It's not an easy poetic form, but can be fun...give it a try.