The Sting of Time
April is the cruelest month
The spring heralds another
birthday – one and twenty years!
She’s old enough to drink yet
the twentieth century
was not seen by her own eyes.
Last month of spring semester
Then it’s graduation time
She puts on her cap and gown
and smiles for family photos
cruel, cruel month!
Napowrimo prompt – And now for our prompt (optional, as always). Today, I’d like to challenge you to write a curtal sonnet. This is a variation on the classic 14-line sonnet. The curtal sonnet form was developed by Gerard Manley Hopkins, and he used it for what is probably his most famous poem, “Pied Beauty.” A curtal sonnet has eleven lines, instead of the usual fourteen, and the last line is shorter than the ten that precede it. Here are two other examples of Hopkins’ curtal sonnets: “Ash Boughs,” and “Peace.”
Good afternoon and welcome to day sixteen of napowrimo where I borrow a line to begin my curtal sonnet. And this time around I did not try to figure in rhyme, but speaking about tuning out math. Math and poetry are always haunting me. And last year’s birthday poem, I spoke about how Gretchen felt old at twenty. Well this birthday had me feeling old and it started right on April first as Gretchen and I were watching Love in the Time of Cholera for her magical realism class. They welcomed in 1900 and I got excited and said, yay! the twentieth century. Thinking we’ve finally entered a century we’ve seen. Then I looked over at Gretchen and quickly realized even though she was turning 21 in a few days, she hadn’t lived in the twentieth century. I added, Another century you have not seen; and I really felt old the twentieth century was over 20 years ago!
As for graduation photos, Shawn took the bulk of them and I’m waiting for them to be edited. In the meantime here is a selfie taken by Gretchen with a snapchat filter.
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