Are You There?

Did you hear my voice calling? Words like rain

Poured from my lips, tunnelled into your ears,

Desperately seeking your heart, once again.

*

It was so loud inside my head, my brain

Wilted from the tumult, echoing my fears ̶

Did you hear my voice? Calling words, like rain,

*

Seem to dampen my poetic refrain,

And yet became a prelude for my tears.

Desperately seeking. Your heart. Once again.

*

Did you listen to the torrent of my pain?

A dumb agony held captive through silent years.

Did you hear my voice, calling, words like rain

*

Pinging on roof tiles, driving me insane?

I am hopeless for your love, it appears.

Desperately. Seeking your heart. Once again.

*

This final time of speaking. Is it in vain?

Are my words such a poison to your ears?

Can you hear my voice? Calling? Words, like rain,

Channelling a pathway to your heart, yet again.

*

*

Rules for the villanelle

1) It must be 19 lines long.

2) The 1st and 3rd lines are repeated throughout the poem AND are the penultimate and final lines respectively.

3) There are only two rhymes allowed (a and b). This means that you are hampered by a strict rhyming scheme! (aba aba aba aba aba abaa)

4) Furthermore, there must be 5 (three-line stanzas) followed by a four-line stanza.

Notes on the villanelle

You need powerful, adaptable refrains that allow for a vast degree of variation throughout the poem. For example, the first line (Did you hear my voice calling? Words like rain) is repeated in line 6 with a change in emphasis (Did you hear my voice? Calling words, like rain,), reappearing in line 12 as (Did you hear my voice, calling, words like rain) and finally in line 18 (Can you hear my voice? Calling? Words, like rain,). The use of the words adjusts to the context of each stanza, and so their meaning constantly changes – stretching the sense of the words but yet preserving the poem’s integrity.

The answering refrain starts in line 3 and is repeated in lines 9, 15 and 19. It follows the same pattern as the first refrain.

The choice of end words to match the rhyming scheme is critical. The first line rhyme word (rain) must have multiple variations to support it throughout the poem (again, brain, refrain, etc.). The same is true for the third line rhyme word (ears), as with (fears, tears, years, etc.).

To keep the poem interesting and melodic it can’t be allowed to be stilted, and so there are some poetic devices to achieve that, such as enjambment (the running on of lines and of stanzas) as in the 1st and 2nd lines (‘Words like rain / Poured from my lips), and with the 2nd and 3rd stanzas. Appropriate water-related imagery is also used – ‘dampen my poetic refrain’, ‘torrent of my pain’, ‘Pinging on roof tiles’.

Furthermore, the final refrain has a word change, which is allowable as this is not an exacting example of a villanelle (see rule 2 above for details).

My reflections on the poem

The inspiration for the poem derives from an experience of walking along a sea shore (in Spain) and observing a dynamic meeting of sea and sand.

The poem explores the fluid nature of water described in terms of human emotions, using analogies such as ‘words like rain’. It also describes the feelings of a rejected lover - and this is where the unexpected nature of the writing presents itself. By constantly revisiting the same words one can find different meanings starting to emerge.

The strictness of the poetic form, with its focus on rhythm and line recurrence, encouraged word play, so that ‘rain pinging on roof tiles’ created a sensory image that encapsulated the essence of the poem and its form – a constant repetition of words that describe excessive compulsive behaviour. I was surprised by this realisation; it was as if the poem gained sense and meaning because of the way in which it was structured.

The repetition required by a villanelle, then, shapes and dictates the writing process and highlights the underlying emotion or feeling that you are working with - not necessarily your own feelings but that which you have decided to focus on. In my case, living next to the sea during a two-week period and walking on the beach every day gave me the impetus to deal with the territory of water in terms of human feelings - sadness, loss, etcetera. Apparently, there is much to write about!