Sapphics - an Attempt - by Bob Elliott
May 21, 2010 at 2:33AM Sapphics - An Attempt
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How to follow one of these tricky metrics
verse on verse, with each line a sound one,
poses tasks that will perplex every poet
who tries to do it.
Should we use colloquial phrases ? Dare we
try to launch improbable diction, trusting
rhythm's force to underpin jagged syntax?
Can we uncover
through the pulse of subtle and shifting patterns
insights having more than a feeble meaning,
and entice true acts of communication
out of our word-hoard?
Oh, we know words alter their shapes, betray us
into falsehood, trick and seduce us; often
nudge us towards innocently revealing
our dirty secrets.
Yet we go on, mouthing them, writing, hoping
that via self-doubt and all the panics of failure,
striving after difficult rhythms gives us
something to cling to:
something not a handhold to grip at, more a
thread that guides us, leads us out through the wordless
spaces where words come of their own to find us,
touch us and move us.
Reader Comments (1)
A valiant attempt, bob! Quite a few hiccups metrically, to my ear, but it works as a poem overall and a demonstration of the process of form.