Infernelle

 

I tried to write a villanelle –

I sat and stared from five to eight,

But all my words have gone to hell.

 

I did my research very well,

With Turco’s rules I felt just great;

I tried to write a villanelle.

 

I sketched the rhyme, a pretty shell,

And felt I could communicate,

But all my words have gone to hell.

 

Into the fires of doubt I fell;

Without desire to obfuscate,

I tried to write a villanelle.

 

And so in Dante’s world I dwell,

To seek a more linguistic state,

Now all my words have gone to hell.

 

It holds me in its evil spell,

This form that makes thought dissipate;

I tried to write a villanelle,

But all my words have gone to hell.