Poem of the day

I'm informed that it's International Pixel-Stained Technopeasant Day. Today's mandate: "Give away professional-quality work online."

My offering is a ballade I wrote some years ago. A ballade, for those who don't know, is a French form with three eight-line stanzas and a four-line envoi at the end. Charles d'Orléans wrote armloads of them during his 25-year exile in England. In the play Cyrano de Bergerac, Cyrano improvises a ballade while duelling a foolish viscount in Act I. One of the unsung masters of the ballade in English was Dorothy Parker: you can find hers here, here, here and here.

This particular ballade was sent to my then-partner one Valentine's Day, along with some shiny new Calvin Kleins. Enjoy!
( Under here )

Poem of the day

I'm informed that it's International Pixel-Stained Technopeasant Day. Today's mandate: "Give away professional-quality work online."

My offering is a ballade I wrote some years ago. A ballade, for those who don't know, is a French form with three eight-line stanzas and a four-line envoi at the end. Charles d'Orléans wrote armloads of them during his 25-year exile in England. In the play Cyrano de Bergerac, Cyrano improvises a ballade while duelling a foolish viscount in Act I. One of the unsung masters of the ballade in English was Dorothy Parker: you can find hers here, here, here and here.

This particular ballade was sent to my then-partner one Valentine's Day, along with some shiny new Calvin Kleins. Enjoy!
( Under here )