My first blog entry here will be one of frustration.

But before all that, hi! I've been around PFFA half-assedly so for some time under the alias jamiegilliland (which, you know, isn't really an alias at all.) My activity has been waning as of late, seeing as I'm being oh-so-formally educated in creative writing now, including poetry, and by the time I get out of the classroom I'm ready to tear my eyeballs out of their sockets if I'm asked my opinion on one more line break.

That said, I wandered over to everypoet.com today, and discovered this site. My spidy sense is telling me it's been around for some time without my noticing, but, you know.

Anyway. Back to the frustration.

I've been asked to write a villanelle for my poetry class. Actually, I was asked last week, but I've successfully procrastinated until the very last day before it's due. I'm to hand out a copy to the entire class tomorrow, aaaaaand I have exactly nothing.

Now, I like formal poetry. I'm a big fan of sonnets. The difference between sonnets and villanelles, however, is that a sonnet was built to fit English. Villanelle's are French. I know, I know, plenty of people have cranked out perfectly good villanelles in English. But I personally believe that divine intervention is required in order to shape the English language into that particular form.

You need seven rhymes! SEVEN! I tried to write one about my cat last night, what with the haunting refrains and all, but there are only so many things one can rhyme with "best go back to sleep", or "eat a fly."