Using form: Susan Jarvis Bryant, ‘A Monosyllabic, Monorhyme, Valentine Villanelle’

I ache to take your hand. My head says no –
You’ll sway me, play me, then you’ll let me go.
My heart says take a chance. Dance long and slow.

Which one (my head or heart) is in the know?
Fazed by your blaze, I melt like sun-soaked snow.
I ache to take your hand. My head says no.

Your wish, it heats the breeze. I hear it blow.
Your beat thrums though my veins. I feel the flow.
My heart says take a chance. Dance long and slow

Through moon-licked hues of blue as night skies glow
And gleam in scenes that steal the bright-star show.
I ache to take your hand. My head says no.

In dreams neath cream silk sheets you are the beau
Who draws my lips and hips to yours and oh…
My heart says take a chance. Dance long and slow.

But still my thoughts are skipping to and fro.
The dos and don’ts won’t stop. They grow and grow.
I ache to take your hand. My head says no…
My heart says take a chance. Dance long and slow.

*****

Susan Jarvis Bryant writes: “I like to set myself challenges when writing poetry. I’m fascinated by French lyric poetry and love a good villanelle. My Muse couldn’t resist this challenge… it was a little tricky, but I enjoyed every minute of composition.” The poem was published in this month’s Snakeskin.

Susan Jarvis Bryant is originally from the U.K., but now lives on the coastal plains of Texas. Susan has poetry published on The Society of Classical Poets, Lighten Up Online, Snakeskin , Light, Sparks of Calliope, and Expansive Poetry Online. She also has poetry published in The Lyric, Trinacria, and Beth Houston’s Extreme Formal Poems and Extreme Sonnets II anthologies. Susan is the winner of the 2020 International SCP Poetry Competition and has been nominated for the 2024 Pushcart Prize. She has just published her first two books, Elephants Unleashed and Fern Feathered Edges.

Photo: Snakeskin