1 post tagged “counting crows”

I'm working on a ghazal, (pronounced "ghuzzle" in English), which is:

- a poem of 5 to 12 couplets.

- each line must maintain the same amount of syllables (give or take one or two if you're being creative :), they share the same meter.

- there are no enjambments between couplets. sometimes, although there is a theme necessarily with the use of the refrain, the couplets should be complete poems in themselves able to be set apart.

"Each couplet must be a precious stone that can shine even when plucked from the necklace, though it certainly has greater lustre in its setting." (Agha Shahid Ali in "Ravishing DisUnities: Real Ghazals in English")

- like a Psalm, the second line compliments or answers the first. there can be a turn, a volta, but line 1 and 2 should not run into each other. the use of questions and exclamations is common.

- only the first couplet must rhyme, and the end of the second rhyme must be the end of the second line for every other couplet. this repeated rhyme is called the refrain.
                   example of a first couplet from Kelly le Fave's "Ghazal":

                         "Each syllable unwinds its shy request in time.
                         Speak slowly, show me what it means to rest in time."

 so in the case of this ghazal, "in time" becomes the refrain, used at the end of the second line of each couplet. another couplet in this poem goes:

                         "Whole nights run as fingers, counting out the palm;
                         hands pressed beneath what passes unexpressed time."

in this case, the poet has opted not to use the words as a refrain, but the rhyme as the refrain. time is repeated, and expressed and rest are rhymed.

- the last couplet is usually a "signature" couplet where the poet uses his/her name in the first, second or third person.

- certain forms of the ghazal employ different structural rules, but these are the basics i think.

I'm finding writing the ghazal to be an interesting task because it's not my favorite thing to write in a metric style or have this kind of glass to pour words into, which is the way I consider this form of writing happens -starting with structure, painting inside the lines, straining out words, extra syllables that can't be used or are unnecessary, shaving back the big idea to find the right polished words and meter. I am enjoying it because I can write as many couplets as I want, and figure out their order later, whereas in some kind of a free verse, narrative-type poem, there is a sequence that lines usually fit themselves into. In the ghazal, the sequence doesn't matter so much as each couplet's own little story, and the refrain tells the same story in different ways at the end of each line.

My experience so far with this style is that the refrain requires a lot of creativity with the words that surround it. A refrain I am using is "in the station," and the ghazal has this theme of waiting for something, which is not unintentional, but the station begins to mean many different things. The station is the train station, the station is just the place, the station is the Cross, the station is the season. My professor had us write down a number of ideas surrounding our refrain. Here are mine:

IN THE STATION
IN THE SEASON
WAITING FOR THE TRAIN
A TIME TO WAIT
A TIME FOR LOVE
A TIME FOR HATE
PATIENCE WITH FATE
PATIENCE IN THE SEASONS

I also get the feeling that although the couplets stand alone, there is a story in them that somehow is weaving its way through, and the refrain unites them all anyway, even if they weren't otherwise meant to be side by side. This poetic form began to be used in the 6th century and literally means "speaking with women." (wiki). It was used by Persian mystic poets, and there is a mystical sense about the unity of these untied couplets by the refrain.