In the fourth round, my word was "imperceptible." I spent quite a while making lists of things that were imperceptible, such as an imperceptible glance between two high-schoolers that have begun to like each other (and I actually did write a poem using this idea.) Or, a grandfather pointing out to his granddaughter the imperceptible beginnings of spring. I did not use this idea but in the fifth round, I think the seeds had been planted, because I wrote my villanelle about the celebration of spring time. Nothing is ever wasted. Nothing is ever lost.
With these thoughts swirling in my head, I went to bed, and when I woke up the next day (I wouldn't say it was morning), I realized I wanted to write a pantoum. I had recently been experimenting with pantoums but had never managed to complete one in just four stanzas. That would be my challenge and here's the pantoum I came up with for round four:
Behind the Dancing Rain: A Pantoum
Lying in bed on nights when it storms,
I dream of a world past my window pane:
imperceptible movements, mysterious forms,
masked by the dance of the thunder-clapped rain.
I dream of a world past my window pane--
the gnarled fingers of troll-like trees.
Masked by the dance of the thunder-clapped rain,
owls hoo-hoo in the gusty breeze.
The gnarled fingers of troll-like trees
tap the walls of my hapless house.
Owls hoo-hoo in the gusty breeze.
In a sodden field sleeps a quiet mouse.
Tapping the walls of my hapless house,
imperceptible movements, mysterious forms.
In a sodden field sleeps a quiet mouse
in its own hidden bed on nights when it storms.
All Rights Reserved 2014 B.J. Lee
I'd also like to do a how-to on the pantoum similar to the one I did on the villanelle simply because I love forms!