Tell Me Four Times

Tell Me Four Times

The purpose of my villanelle was saying something true,
I had no time for discipline, for form and getting-rid –
I tried to be original, and thought I’d cracked it, too !

Yet the more I tried rebelling, so the less my lines would skew,
They would fall into a pattern that I vainly would forbid –
The purpose of my villanelle was lacking derring-do.

But poems are for grown-up, once native wits accrue,
And I guess I wasn’t ready, I was just a little kid –
I tried to be original, but nothing ever flew.

I didn’t understand that the point I should pursue
Is to use the same lines over, determined on a grid –
The purpose of a villanelle is lexographic glue.

The formula was founded to re-frame our point-of-view,
When focused on the emphasis, and how the meaning slid –
I tried to be original, but couldn’t follow-through.

The purpose of my villanelle was saying something new,
But the lines kept on repeating, no matter what I did.
I tried to be original, but hadn’t got a clue !