CURTAL SONNET

Some would argue as to whether it is a true sonnet, but I consider it to be just as valid as any other sonnet form. The Curtal is a curtailed or contracted sonnet, referring specifically to a sonnet comprising of a sestet with a rhyme scheme of
a. b. c. a. b. c. and a quintet rhyming, d. c. b. d. c.. or.. d. b. c. d. c. with the last line preferably a spondee, but at least a tail shorter then the previous lines.

The form was devised by Gerard Manley who devised a metrical system known as Sprung rhythm; that has 1-to-4-syllable feet, each starting with a stressed syllable (sometimes a foot by itself), where the spondee replaces the iamb as the dominant measure, and rests and multiple non-stressed syllables discounted in scansion. -

Pied Beauty

Glory be to God for dappled things—
For skies of couple-colour as a brinded cow;
For rose-moles all in stipple upon trout that swim;
Fresh-firecoal chestnut-falls; finches' wings;
Landscape plotted and pieced—fold, fallow, and plough;
And áll trádes, their gear and tackle and trim.
All things counter, original, spare, strange;
Whatever is fickle, freckled (who knows how?)
With swift, slow; sweet, sour; adazzle, dim;
He fathers-forth whose beauty is past change:
Praise him.

Gerard Manley Hopkins

Curtal Sonnet Posts
Contents

Bruce Henderson

Cultivated Spring
There's one in every crowd

Dera Cymreiges

Spring - In Curtal(ese)

Ryter Roethicle

Change of Reason.
Despair
Somewhere in time
Somewhere in time II
Question of Love
Visit with a thought

Bruce Henderson

Cultivated Spring

An abyss glows from the wasted fallout.
Come exorcise the phantoms in disguise
that charmed the inner child into the night.
It's time to cast away the ghosts. Look out
the frost is lifting from those wintry eyes,
and worlds will explode, from their sprouting sight.
The Earth absolves her cares of old with each
burgeoning Spring. Below flowering skies
she exhales vistas in an ancient rite
to fatten beauty. You are Earth, go preach
God's light.

There's one in every crowd

With measured care, meticulous
hands placate the fruits of combat
on the ashen streets of Riyadh.
Though pranks that are ridiculous
always sprout from a silly brat
when one is hard upon the job.
With smiles the tension defuses.
But, there's one in every crowd that
likes to play jokes that just seem odd.
Because life's a blast in Bruce's
bomb squad.

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Dera Cymreiges

Spring - In Curtal(ese)

For Gerard Manley - Poet (1844 - 1889)

Praise for this sense of what is to come
this feeling that somebody's out there
scattering fresh blooms to the midnight breeze
permeating the darkness with scent - it's won
my praise each year - made me believe and dare
to anticipate times when the heart is at ease.
Each time is like the first - it's a genius I want to hold,
make a firm fist of my hand - does appease
that obsession to own the magnolia's flare
and the lilac's scent, when spring grows old,
to summer cedes.

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Ryter Roethicle

Change of Reason

Never again will I write of love
No flights of fantasy or special moments
Or lovers whispers with oil slicked tongues
No flowery images and such to speak of
No more of passion and all its torments
And finally, chasing setting suns is wrong.
Wind and river whisper with their voice
Their own assurances to my covenant
My sense of rightness will make me strong
With philosophy and reason I have a choice
Right here.

-----

Despair

It is full moon, oft hid by black clouds
Tonight, too often, matching my thoughts
Each progress into darkness leads me on.
The night grows cold, covered by shrouds
Rubber straps around, make veins taught
Hopefully I pray that I'll soon be gone.
Warm water flows into the bowl
Tapping the swelling vein feeling naught
With an upward cut the razors drawn.
Red life gushes from a widening hole
Soon gone.

-----

Somewhere in time

Once again somewhere in time we shall meet
We will break bread, and from the wineglass sup
And sing our songs and speak our love in rhyme.
We will move in time and feet will tap the beat
And life's wine shared, more tasty with each cup
Knowing we will meet again somewhere in time.
Each blessed meeting this life the days are few
Sharing wine and bread, we climb further up
Confident of a love that is more than certainty
And now each life wait for our rendezvous
Through eternity

-----

Somewhere in time II

Somewhere in the mists of time we danced
As a piper played, we held each other tight.
Our dance of love a sign of all that's good
And moved and danced then we romanced
Searching each others eyes, far into the night
Our music lingered and changed with the mood.
There is no music that surpasses that of amore,
Nor any dance where two hearts beat as one,
Maturing with time creating a love so right
Living and loving until this life on Earth is done,
Meeting all that fate has in store.

-----

Question of Love

Is love made of rock, of hard granite stone
Heavy and solid, and sometimes a bore?
That rock shatters and wears away to sand
Resolve no tougher than frail flesh and bone.
Or a hardened shaft that strengthens our core
And a grip of steel from a powerful hand?
Is love just an illusion of hormones and wishes
Where the instinct to breed becomes only a chore
Or do we receive far more than was planned
A feast, a smorgasbord full of exotic dishes
So grand.

-----

Visit with a thought

I shall visit with my thoughts tonight,
For they have made me curious
And I find no comfort in their leaving.
Some consider life as an actor might
A shallow life and highly spurious
And their loss won’t find me grieving.
But consider one thought worth all
So much worthy of conceiving
That will make the shallow furious
And the sage nods in his great hall
Believing.

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