raven, Sing

Featured Poem

One of the West Midlands Regional presses has been looking for poems about birds. I sent them three Corvid poems. Corvidae is the generic name for the family of birds that contains, among others, Crows, Magpies, Ravens, Jackdaws, Jays, and others. All magnificent birds. I called my little collection Three Corvid Sonnets; this month’s poem, raven, Sing is one of them.

I like the poem because the Raven takes a superior attitude to the poor old Poet, even though the Poet is a fan of the Raven. It makes me smile.

But is the poem a sonnet? Of course, it is, in my opinion.

When thinking about sonnets, many people think of the sonnets Shakespeare wrote. Shakespeare uses three quatrains and a couplet, with a particular rhyming scheme. Sonnets in this form are usually called Shakespearean Sonnets. Shakespeare based his form on the Italian Sonnet; this also had fourteen lines but with a much tighter rhyming scheme. This sonnet had two quatrains and a stanza of six lines (a sestet). It did not end with a couplet (the couplet often gives the Shakespearean sonnet a bit of a kick).

Shakespeare developed his own sonnet form because the Italian sonnet (which used fewer rhymes) led to forced poems in English; Italian has less groups of rhyming words, but groups are much larger. So English needs to handle rhyming schemes differently.

Is Raven, Sing a sonnet? Of course, as I have already said. But I have varied the sonnet framework to fit my needs. The poem has fourteen lines, a prerequisite in my opinion. But it has two ‘mirroring’ sestets, each one having only one rhyme. It finishes with a couplet and the couplet packs the punch (like the Shakespearean Sonnet.) So it is a sonnet.

It is a fun flexing of the form because it is a fun poem. I hope you enjoy it; and I hope you take a closer look at those magnificent Corvidae whenever you see them.

Reading

I have finished an incredibly exciting thriller, A Good Day to Die. It is written by Amen Elonge; it is a bit gruesome, so not for the faint hearted. I am now reading Kingsley Amis’s Green Man; after a bit of a slog, it may be about to become really interesting. But that is touch and go.

Work

Much of the past month has been spent preparing for my workshop with actors, movement director and co-director, on General Guidance, my set of poems dealing with sight loss, shifting identity, and training and working with a guide dog. (Last month I featured a short section of the script). I love being in the rehearsal room; I love the concentration and laughter. And most of all love the creativity of all in the team. It is likely I shall endeavour to pursue this into full performance; but much depends on funding and partners. Watch this space, as they say.