Tuesday, May 03, 2005

 
On Saturday I'm taking another of these one-shot master classes, this time with Marilyn Hacker on sonnets. This will almost definitely be my last one--they are pricey, and I feel a little like Jonah did when we took him back to his nursery school a few months ago for a little reunion--"Is this okay?" But it's in New Brunswick, so the a) relative low cost to my energy and the b) relative uncommonness of such an event make it seem a no-brainer. So, I'm going.

At least, it's gotten me to write a few sonnets. Here's what I'm taking:



I Didn’t Sonnet


I didn’t know I’d settled into these
days till they had past, and all I’d left
of them was me. I took them as my craft,
they took me through more than they were. Now, please
don’t misunderstand: If my days were seas,
though what they washed up into form had heft,
such salvage is not they; and if days sift
from wash and tide to a fine grain, they seize

back again what they were, gave, in season.
The days I settled to as me were my
self-tidings: assurance that I was; thus I
rode the history of one thought for years
and over years, until it broke: it rears
back, carries another, a new man run.

Comments:
I like this sonnet a lot. The only place where I tripped a little was over the last three words. Might be just me though. Thanks for posting the poem. Have fun this weekend.
 
Yeah, the long rhyme (with season) may be too much, though with the right word I think it could work to have that sense of return-from-afar I wanted.

No, you're definitely right, those three words probably aren't the best ending, but it's as far as I've gotten. (The triteness of the phrase doesn't bring anything good to the poem either, I see now. ugh.)

Thanks for the comment, btw. Helps to hear. We'll see what I can come up with.
 
I am so envious that you're taking a class with MH. I would love to take a class with her. Make sure to share all the details when you get back!
 
Suzanne,

Will do, for sure.
 
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