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Robert Fleming’s Valentine’s Day Advice
By Robert Fleming
On Valentine’s Day, write a sonnet. A sonnet is for love. In the 13th-century, the sonnet was invented by Giacomo da Lentini, a member of the Italian Court of the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II in Palermo, Sicily.
William Shakespeare popularized the sonnet. William lived 1564–1616 in Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire, England.
The original sonnet is a fourteen-line poem in iambic pentameter with endline rhyme with the sequence: ABAB CDCD EFEF GG. The last two lines, GG, are a change, called a Volta. I still confuse iambic pentameter with the Olympic Pentameter event where a shepherd guides lambs over hurdles.
Perhaps, William’s most famous sonnet is #18: Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?
Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?
Thou art more lovely and more temperate:
Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,
And summer’s lease hath all too short a date;
Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,
And often is his gold complexion dimm’d;
And every fair from fair sometime declines,
By chance or nature’s changing course untrimm’d;
But thy eternal summer shall not fade,
Nor lose possession of that fair thou ow’st;
Nor shall death brag thou wander’st in his shade,
When in eternal lines to time thou grow’st:
So long as men can breathe or eyes can see,
So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.
Where is William’s poetry title? Don’t poems have to have a title? Some poets don’t give titles and when published the publisher makes the first line the title.
As a poet for fifty years, I have written many sonnets and teach a two-hour workshop on how to write a sonnet. I am proud, at the end of my workshop, many participants write a first draft and complain they are exhausted. Beware of the sonnet sweat.
My writing which responds to William’s sonnet #18:
William does this frock make me look fat?
Why should I compare you?
Shall my rating do good?
Will it make me want
you more than what I had,
nor worse than what I can’t get?
Your score will be my score.
Shall there come a day when you won’t ask?
Oh no, no, not that frock, take it off!
Robert, your poem does have a title, but only nine lines. It is not a sonnet. As a tribute to Cole Porter, who composed Anything Goes in 1934, the less taxing American sonnet was invented which is a fourteen-line poem that does not demand iambic pentameter nor endline rhymes. If the American sonnet’s fourteen lines is still too sweaty for you, write a monostich-1 line poem: I Love You.
The author, Robert Fleming is a founding/contributing editor of Old Scratch Press (OSP). To read more of Robert’s work:
- buy his visual poetry book White Noir, published by OSP, which is an Amazon bestseller white noir: Fleming, Robert: 9781957224183: Amazon.com: Books . https://www.amazon.com/dp/1957224185
- read his craft article: hybrid poetry published by Bewilderness Writing Hybrid+Poetry+by+Robert+Fleming+2023+11+2.pdf (squarespace.com) https://oldscratchpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/38cf2-hybridpoetrybyrobertfleming2023112.pdf
Introducing Collective Member Morgan Golladay
How does one convey the feeling of a place? Twice-recognized by the Delaware Press Association for her poetry, Morgan Golladay gathers images and thoughts into a story of living in an area where rivers and mountains converge into dreams and memories.
Destination by Morgan Golladay
Ten dedicated writer poets comprise the Old Scratch Short Form Collective, with the goal of working with the Devil’s Party Press, a small independent publisher, to bring to fruition the concept of publishing chapbooks of poetry and short form prose under the imprint Old Scratch Press.
This week we are introducing founding member Morgan Golladay
Morgan Golladay has been intrigued with words all her life. Her poetry reflects this, and she uses illusion and allusion in her writing. Much of her work focuses on her native Shenandoah Valley, as well as coastal Delaware.
Morgan says that poetry originated as an oral form, and she thinks it works best when it is heard. To that end it must be concise, simple, and tight. The poet bears the responsibility to speak old truths in new ways, to encourage the reader/listener to consider ideas from a different point of view. To do this the poet must be vulnerable, must allow their inner thoughts and fears and secrets to surface. This is particularly difficult in a society that doesn’t share its hurts, its fears, its pain. And that poetry, of love, loss, sadness, fear, and joy binds us together in our humanity and give us opportunities to grow.
Daylight in the Swamp by Morgan Golladay
Now a resident of central Delaware, Morgan ‘s latest work The Song of North Mountain is a love song to the northern Shenandoah Valley of Virginia. Growing up in a valley nestled between the Blue Ridge and North Mountain, Morgan Golladay was greeted daily by the aura of a quiet landscape blessed by sky and rolling hills. The images in this chapbook are, for the greater part, memories of a time where all that was important was sky, mist, land, and trees. Publication is tentatively scheduled for 2024.
Above the Gap by Morgan Golladay
Morgan past work and life experiences have provided her with a diverse perspective which she brings to her writing and her visual artwork. She has worked with non-profits as a volunteer and staff member, been a librarian, a blood donor recruiter, and a customer service and purchasing agent for a residential water-well wholesaler. Her watercolor and acrylic-collage paintings have won awards, and she is a member of the Mispillion Art League in Milford, DE, where she currently lives.
Her poetry and prose has been published in the Broadkill Review, Halloween Party ’21, and Instant Noodles. She is currently editing her first novel.
Introducing Collective Member Ellis ElLiot
Ten dedicated writer poets comprise the Old Scratch Short Form Collective, with the goal of working with the Devil’s Party Press, a small independent publisher, to bring to fruition the concept of publishing chapbooks of poetry and short form prose under the imprint Old Scratch Press.
To launch, we’ll be introducing the contributing editors, member of the collective, one by one each week.
MEET ELLIS ELLIOT
Ellis Elliott is a writer, ballet teacher, and facilitator of online writing groups called Bewilderness Writing. She has a blended family of six grown sons and splits her time between Juno Beach, FL., and the mountains of Crozet, VA. She has an MFA from Queens University, is a contributing writer for the Southern Review of Books, and an editor/workshop teacher for The Dewdrop contemplative journal. She has been published in Signal Mountain Review, Ignation Literary Magazine, Literary Mama, OPEN: Journal of Arts and Letter, Plainsongs Poetry Magazine/Award Poem, Sierra Nevada Review, Women of Appalachia Project Anthology, Delmarva Review, The Rail, Spotlong Review, Euphony Journal, and others.
Old Scratch Press is delighted to be publishing Ellis’s first chapbook, a collection of poems entitled A Break in the Field. In her poetic statement about herself on her Bewilderness Writing website, Ellis says,
“I am a perennial student of nature, inner realms, and the wisdom of the body, and write to bear witness and disentangle the world as I perceive it.”
Approximately fifty pages in length, the poems in A Break in the Field grapple with the concept of how human perception can change, depending on the vantage point. Target month for the book’s release will be June 2023.
In the upcoming weeks we’ll be introducing the other members of the group
Alan Bern
Anthony Doyle
Gabby Gilliam
Janet Holmes Uchendu
Morgan Golladay
Nadja Maril
R. David Fulcher
Robert Fleming
Virginia Watts
And we’ll be sharing favorite poems and pieces we admire along with writing prompts, thoughts and musing about poetry, short form prose and other hybrid forms.
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