Thursday, September 2, 2021

A Ghazal for September

Happy September Poets!

Here's to calmer seas and fairer winds this month. It's been a bit rocky around our world as of late.

Thanks to Heidi at My Juicy Little Universe for hosting our roundup today. 

This month's Inkling challenge comes from Margaret who asked us to write a ghazal. Ooooph. This was tough for me. I wrote a poem and then another, got feedback from the other inklings and still wasn't happy with my work. Finally, thinking backward from my usual approach freed me up to write a ghazal that I'm pleased to share.

Here's my third attempt...that works as a ghazal.

Photo: "A Moon in a Galaxy" by Adrian Swancar on Unsplash


Mares
 
dark areas of considerable extent on the surface of the moon
                                                                                          Merriam Webster

Fear and worry run wild at night
disturbing what's reviled at night


The man in the moon lost his shine

Now, he roams hither and yon, exiled at night


No hay diddle diddle or cat with a fiddle
could unjangle nerves riled at night


Down through the leaves of an old oak tree

searching for a lost flower child at night


Where am I going and what do I wish?

uninterrupted sleep, sweet and mild at night

© Linda Mitchell

Here's how I figured out that backward was the way to think. Decide on the internal rhyme word...and make a list of word that rhyme with it. That became my word bank as I wrote each additional couplet. For this poem, I kept each couplet related to the moon from old English nursery rhymes, nightmares, and sleep. Once I caught on to the HOW...writing a ghazal was fun.


Hamish is growing stronger as a poet these days. He wrote a sevenling for his padlet. Sevenling is a new form to both of us. We learned about it from the August writing challenge at Ethical ELA. 


See more ghazals at

Reflections on the Teche
Reading to the Core
my juicy little universe
Nix the Comfort Zone 
A Year of Reading

17 comments:

  1. Linda, I love the movement in your Ghazal and I enjoyed reading it. I especially love the image "Down through the leaves of an old oak tree/ searching for a lost flower child at night." Thank you for your explanation about writing a ghazal. You make it seem easier to write. Please tell Hamish I liked his Sevenling poem. Have a great school year!

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  2. Thank you! Love that tip to get you (and me!) started. I'm back to thinking maybe I might try one. And you've done a wonderful work with your own - such variety in your imagery. I think your 2nd and 3rd stanzas are my fave... Though those falling oak leaves and lost flower child are lovely, too.😻

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  3. Third time was definitely the charm! This is all kinds of fabulous. And I agree -- once you really understand how the form works and you get everything set up before you start to write (kind of like cake baking), ghazals are really sort of fun!

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  4. Linda, the ghazal format seemed so complicated when Heidi introduced it. I kept pouring over the form trying to make sense of it. I see that you have mastered the art of ghazal writing in 3 steps. What an accomplishment. I love your ending! Nightmares seem to run amok in my brain lately so "uninterrupted sleep, sweet and mild at night" seems to be a great closure to your poem. Thanks for sharing your steps because the visual is a great help. Now off to reading the sevenling. Kudos that you and Hamish tried out yet another form.

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  5. What a universal longing sleep is these days! Your images gave me goosebumps, & I appreciate the tip. Thinking backwards makes perfect sense to me!

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  6. I have a book that I loved all about history at night, all the treats and all the scares that you've included in your own 'nights', Linda. Each couplet touches us in many ways. Thanks for the extra tip, too!

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  7. Oooh, what a lovely ghazal, Linda! This image really connected mysteriously with me:

    Down through the leaves of an old oak tree

    searching for a lost flower child at night

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  8. Your tips are super helpful, Linda, and make me (almost) want to dive into writing another ghazal. So clever of you to pull in consistency with the moon and all that fairy tale magic.

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  9. Linda, you have surely captured those dark areas on the moon and in the night times of life. There are rich metaphors, and your word choice is perfect. Wow, thanks for sharing the simple steps to handling this poetry form. Like, Molly, I want to try. I've added the ghazal to my list!

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  10. Oh, yes, and that beautiful photo you and Hamish wrote about with those soon to be yellow windrows and harvest moon is perfect.

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  11. You did it! And how clever of you to weave in nursery rhymes! Your step by step instructions almost make me want to try again. I love the last stanza, with its "nod" to Wynken, Blyken, and Nod, which was a favorite in our house.

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  12. Love your ghazal and the process by which you got there, Linda. Adding in nursery rhymes and sleep is brilliant. I don't think I'm in the headspace to attempt this form, but maybe someday... :)

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  13. I think you did a wonderful job with this ghazal, Linda! You really captured the sense of thoughts circling from one thought to another when one can't sleep. Like the others, I love the allusions to the nursery rhymes. Well done!

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  14. Wow, Linda--yes, you distilled the process that I used too (all of us?) into 3 steps, and your combination of nursery rhyme whimsy and deep adult longing is so potent. This is definitely one where trying to describe how it works is not nearly as effective as just showing by example. Way to hang in there!

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  15. I love this and how atmospheric it is. And it's so true!

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  16. I'm so glad you stuck with the challenge. I love the line about Hey Diddle Diddle...Makes me think of how a storm can rile those nights.

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  17. Love your MARES poem and image Linda! It has a fanciful and mysterious moving feel to it. And your "flower child" and sweet and mild" all made me smile tonight, thanks!:)

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Friendly, positive comments and feedback are always welcome here. Please let me know I'm not just whistling in the dark!