Last week was my birthday.
“What do you want to do when I get home?” asked my husband. I could have said, “You know that tiny, expensive French restaurant?” Or maybe, “Nordstrom’s.” He’s a good guy. He’s a smart guy. He would have said yes.
He’s lucky. I said, “Go to the animal shelter.”
We’d adopted Rosie when our son was four years old and she was eight months old. She was 17 years and one week when she died this February. A good, good dog.
We’re ready.
So we went to the shelter. You can’t replace a daughter dog in one day. It was a beginning.
I wanted to learn a new form of poetry. I found an elegant website called Patterns in Poetry researched, written and created by Constance Curran, of Cranberry Designs.
I learned what a ghazal is. Briefly:
• It usually contains 5 to 15 shers (couplets). [Mine only has four]
• Each sher should be able to stand on its own as a poem. [I deviated from this rule]
• A radif (refrain) is repeated at the end of the second line of each sher.
• An internal rhyme appears just before the radif in each line.
• The final sher, called a maqta, contains the poet’s name or takhallus (pen name).
Here’s my first attempt at a ghazal:
AT THE ANIMAL SHELTER ON MY BIRTHDAY
by April Halprin Wayland
Papa holds my hand, we walk on cement past wire cages.
Who is fierce, who’s a crier, who is our dog?
Whimpering ones. Sleepy ones. Growling ones.
Friendly lapping tongue. Not whining, not howling…our dog?
Run across to the office! Then wait. Finally they unlock the gate.
I toss a ball…is this chasing dog our dog?
April blossoms on the grass. I shriek–Papa fills out forms!
This dashing-around, licky dog at my cheek? Our dog!
© 2010 April Halprin Wayland. All rights reserved
Are you writing a poem a day, too? Even if you’re not, please leave a comment on www.TeachingAuthors.com (You can leave your comment after any of our posts…it doesn’t matter if I’m posting or one of the five other authors is. Just scroll down to the first place you can comment. I’d love to hear your thoughts~)