April is Poetry Month: My Mountain Home

As you may know, I took up the challenge to write a poem a day in April. So far, so good. Exploring poetry forms is something I’d like to do further so I chose the villanelle form to explore. How would it be to write a poem that fits this form?

A villanelle is a french form of poetry that is complex in that lines must follow a particular format. It has five 3 line stanzas and a final 4 line quatrain. It is 19 lines with a rhyme scheme of ABA, ABA, ABA, ABA, ABA, ABBA. Specific lines are repeated, namely line one is repeated in line six, twelve, and eighteen. Line three is repeated in line nine, fifteen, and nineteen.

I will warn you that it has a dark, sad feeling.

My Mountain Home

by Cynthia Mackey

The mountain rises majestic and steep

for years it’s been my home

Life feels so lonely, plunges deep.

The clouds roll in, fog gently creeps

The deer and coyotes roam

The mountain rises majestic and steep

Each night I rest my brain for sleep

Clock ticks like a metronome

Life feels so lonely, plunges deep

While I lie still, counting sheep

How long must I stay at home

A mountain rises majestic and steep

A mind filled with promises I must keep

Caught inside this transparent dome

Life feels so lonely, plunges deep

Body still, meditation quiets, clean sweep

Swishing the cobwebs from my home

A mountain rises majestic and steep

Life feels so lonely, plunges deep.

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