Prompt #127 – Romancing the Poem

Yesterday, on Black Friday (the biggest shopping day of the year), as I sat in my car in Lord & Taylor’s parking lot (waiting for the line of cars ahead of me to move), I turned on the radio and heard Eydie Gorme sing “I’ll Take Romance.” I remember my mom singing that song and, as I sat in the line of cars, I thought about "romance" as a topic for poems. There are, of course, many ways to interpret “romance,” and there are all kinds of love to write about. Let's give it a go this week.

Before you begin writing, consider some possibilities:

First Romance/First Love

Illusory Love

Unrequited Love

Passion

Obsessive Love

True Love

Long Distance Love

Love of Your Life

False Love

Betrayed Love

Lost Love

Impossible Love

There are also “romances” that involve a mysterious or fascinating appeal (i.e., an adventure or something uniquely beautiful). Have you ever had a romance with: a particular time in history, the sea, the stars, or nature? These are a different kind of romance and needn’t involve romantic love at all.

Another kind of romance poem is the metrical romance that was popular during the High Renaissance. A literary preference among the aristocracy and upper classes, metrical romances typically related tales of knights and their various adventures and trials. Courtly love was  a typical metrical romance theme, but romantic love was not prerequisite for a metrical romance. Not exactly what I have in mind for this week's poem, but if the form interests you, why not? 

Getting Started:

1. You  might begin by making a list of “romances” that you’ve had. 
2. Reflect on your list and select one of the romances to write about. 
3. You might want to do a free write to get started. 
4. Don’t let your poem become a typical “love poem.” 
5. Work to create levels of meaning, and be sure to avoid sentimentality and “mush.” 
6. Even if your poem is a narrative poem, it should do more than simply tell a story. 
7. The story is the material of the poem, and you need to do something special with that material (often, as you work with a poem, you discover what its “story” is about (not simply what the story is, but what the story means).

Examples:

"Romance" by Charles Reznikoff

"A Girl" by Ezra Pound

"The Ragged Wood" by William Butler Yeats

"Brown Penny" by William Butler Yeats

"Romance Sonambulo" by Federico Garcia Lorca

"The Past" by Michael Ryan

"I Can Neither Afford the Rain" by Holly Iglesias

And this gem filled with mystery and nuance 

by Italian translator and poet  Alessandro Pancirolli 

You Get Closer, We Should Not ...

I thought to be out of this maze. I thought to 

Be out of this

That I am now writing. 

You look at me. You smile. "You get closer ,

we should not..."

We know what to expect , a fine rain , we  in hurrying, The Rule.*

It's raining hardly, the wind has ceased,  

The storm is far away...

You cry, you smile at me, you cry.

We walk embraced under the  tall plane trees.

On the riverside.

______________________

Ho pensato di essere fuori da questo labirinto. ho pensato

di  essere fuori da questo 

che sto ora scrivo

Mi guardi. Sorridi." Ti avvicini,

non dovremmo..."

Sappiamo cosa aspettarci , una pioggia sottile, abbiamo fretta, La Regola*

Piove appena, il vento è cessato,

la tempesta è lontana ... 

Tu piangi, mi sorridi, piangi.

camminiamo abbracciati sotto  i platani  alti.

Sul lungofiume.