No More Outs to Play (A Villanelle)

by Joe Pacheco

As per Edward Arlington Robinson

They have all moved away,
The stadium’s shut and still.
No more outs to play.

No one to shout hooray
Or feel late inning thrill,
They have all moved away.

No afternoon display
Of valor, strength and skill.
No more outs to play.

Nor high priced stars to pay
Or luxury box to fill,
They have all moved away.

As empty stands decay,
Grass shrouds the pitcher’s hill,
No more outs to play.

One last fireworks array
Will deliver final kill.
They have all moved away.
No more outs to play.

.

A villanelle is a poetic form which entered English-language poetry in the 1800s from the imitation of French models. A villanelle has only two rhyme sounds. The first and third lines of the first stanza are rhyming refrains that alternate as the third line in each successive stanza and form a couplet at the close. A villanelle is 19 lines long, consisting of five tercets and one concluding quatrain.   (Wikipedia)

Posted 4/23/2010

0 Replies to “No More Outs to Play (A Villanelle)”

  1. I can’t believe I toguhht this was today’s prompt. My only excuse is I was in a hurry and wanted to start thinking about this before I left home. Not ony that, but last year one of the prompts was a form. Oh, well it was a fun challenge for me. It may turn out to be a bit singsongy, and I realized one stanza had the rhymes reversed at first, but I did it, and I had fun, so I consider it a success.Years ago I noticed some birds trying to fly in formation, it seemed. However, they chose not to continue in flight. They kept flying back and forth, unsure of where to go. They would go from one section of grass to another, then take off again. At times they would seem to be meeting in committee, eat some, and take off again. They were a disorganized bunch who seemed to need a flight director of choreographer. I chose those birds as the subject of my light-hearted villanelle.The IrregularsWhere was their director of flightthat morning in Jefferson Park?The birds wondered where to alight.Formations were not very tight;they flew on a whim or a lark.Where was their director of flight?Should they go to the left or the right?Were they on or off of the mark?The birds wondered where to alight.Their committees met on more than one site.They pondered, but were still in the dark.Where was their director of flight?Always keeping each other in sightthey landed somewhere in the park.The birds wondered where to alight.They ate while considering their plight,needing leadership before it was darkWhere was their director of flight?The birds wondered where to alight.

  2. that.YOU..all you need to do is prove it and not change the subject.See how different it is on another blog.By now, some harpies would have come to your rescue and saved your credibilty and CJ would have banned those in disent. But now then…all you can do is run off because you cannot prove what you said. So if you cannot prove that…how could one believe you?

  3. Hi Credulo,I haven't been able to find it. The Memoirs of Episcopius has one of his orations at Dort, but I don't think it's the one you are looking for. It's most likely in "Synodi Dordracenae crudelis iniquitas" written by Episcopius shortly after the Synod, but I haven't been able to find a copy online. Sorry I couldn't be of more help.God be with you,Dan

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