Rimas Dissolutas

 

The rimas dissolutas – does it rhyme or not? In each stanza, there is no rhyme, but each line rhymes with the corresponding line in subsequent stanzas. All the first lines rhyme, all the second lines rhyme, and so on. All of the lines are usually comparable length, and there is not a set number of lines or stanzas. There is sometimes an envoi, a shorter stanza at the end, and it often rhymes with the end rhymes of some of the later lines in the stanzas. If the poet has used stanzas with 6 lines, the envoi may be two lines that rhyme with lines 4 and 5 or lines 5 and 6. The form comes to us from French troubadours, possibly 12th and 13th centuries, and is a departure from other stricter rhyme schemes of the day. I haven’t found a strict translation of the words rimas dissolutas, but it’s not a great leap to dissolute rhyme.

the cat of sadness, by Robert Lee Brewer

the cat of sadness does not purr
late at night anymore or hunt
for creatures to offer up still
half-alive & held in her teeth

oblivious to trembling furr
focused on performing her stunt
& pleasing her king on the hill
who loved her above & beneath

but who left her for a new thrill
as she curled up into a wreath

 

A Renewal     James Merrill

Having used every subterfuge
To shake you, lies, fatigue, or even that of passion,
Now I see no way but a clean break.
I add that I am willing to bear the guilt.

You nod assent. Autumn turns windy, huge,
A clear vase of dry leaves vibrating on and on.
We sit, watching. When I next speak
Love buries itself in me, up to the hilt.

 

And my own published in both The Crafty Poet II (Terrapin Books) and Breathe Here (North Country Press)

The Woods Are Open to Me Now

After hearing from my doctor

 

The woods are open to me now.

Nothing to fear in the leaf bed,

there are no monstrous reveries

to curdle my muscle or bone.

 

The woods now inspire a new vow,

of accepting the path ahead.

Nothing hiding behind a tree 

Nothing seeping beneath a stone.

 

With no fear in the woods, I plow

on through the terrors I once fled.

The dark can no longer take me

to the tightness I felt alone.

 

I push aside a low pine bough

with new thoughts forming in my head.

No more plunge into misery.

I know now, I’m on my way home.

 

 

 

 

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