The other day, when I realized I actually had time to read a book, I pulled out my wallet and started going through scraps of paper on which are written the titles of books that have piqued my interest. In amongst the torn and rumpled bits of paper with faded writing, I saw a purple pamphlet titled “Kingston Frontenanc Public Library best of 2007.” I looked at the titles listed in the fiction section, and then checked the poetry section. The Ode Less Travelled: Unlocking the Poet Within by Stephen Fry caught my eye, mainly because of Stephen Fry. I made a note to get it at the library.
My nephew Niles (not his real name, as I'm sure he would insist on having you know) is turning 15 next month. I wasn't going to get him anything for his birthday, since I had already given him a gift certificate for scuba diving lessons as a combined Christmas and birthday present. But I've decided to get The Ode Less Travelled: Unlocking the Poet Within for Niles. I'm not sure he has any desire to unlock his inner poet, since he seems more interested in writing short stories. But he likes Stephen Fry, the jacket cover has an amusing picture of Fry with a Donald Trump-like combover, and learning about clerihews, ghazals and pantoums will imbue Niles with a snooty air of superiority (which would be particularly befitting if his name really was Niles).
In honour of his birthday, I am trying to write Niles -- who has a head of hair Donald Trump and possibly even Stephen Fry would kill for -- a villanelle. I've only done the first verse:
Oh, you'll go far with that glorious hair;
and those pearly whites, the world's your oyster!
But beware: male pattern baldness isn't that rare.
For those of you who don't know what a villanelle is, it follows this pattern:
A1bA2 abA1 abA2 abA1 abA2 abA1A2
Which means that I have to find five words that rhyme with oyster. There's cloister, roister, moister, and foist her. But I need another one. Any ideas?
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Tuesday, February 24, 2009
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8 comments:
I'm laughing too hard at the thought of "foist her" to help.
Susan will love this. She's the queen of the villanelle.
Or maybe she's the queen of the bosa nova... I forget.
I was never any good at rhymes -- sorry!
I do like Stephen Fry though -- I, along with 231,575 other people, follow his 140 character or less gems of wisdom on Twitter.
Good idea for a gift for an aspiring writer.
Wow! joister was my word verification today!!
(not really -- just playing with you)
Is moister "more moist"? Surely a fifteen year old boy would enjoy something moister...perhaps not.
Cloister would work for a 34 year old woman, but perhaps not, again, for Niles.
Could you use something in a bad accent?
"Hoist her" works for me.
Bridgett: great idea.
Deloney: I'm worried the poor woman may not survive the villanelle if she is both foisted and hoisted.
Helen: I didn't even see this one til today.
I just watched Season 1 of A Bit of Fry and Laurie last week...
Now I may need to make note of this book!
Are you a fan of House Indigo?
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