Frank is the host of dVerse today. Frank has given us some more pointers on the lai nouveau form. Here is my first lai nouveau. Challenging may be an understatement on what it was like to write it!
JUNE
June, my sweet coquette,
Please make me forget
Chiffon.
My rose, sweet nymphet,
Dear purse-lipped soubrette
Headstrong.
Please make me forget,
June, my sweet coquette
*
Heaven’s first asset
Your tresses, brunette
Bouffant;
Your form, soft lunettes
Worth game of roulette,
Dear swan!
Please make me forget,
June, my sweet coquette
*
Willful net you set
Appetites you whet
Headlong.
By lust’s trap beset,
In your clutch I sweat —
Belong.
Please make me forget,
June, my sweet coquette!
*
You turn in neglect
Too soon its sunset.
Not long,
Boredom has beset;
You give your regrets
Are gone —
Lord! Make me forget
June, my sweet coquette.
Tao Talk 
nice slant rhyme and offbeat vocabulary words
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Thank you, Larry. Like that one I did on the dance, I went to rhymezone and wrote down every rhyming word on the 5-syllables, then another list of the slant rhymes, then did the same thing for the 2-syllables. A story jumped out as I looked over the words (yes I had to look up the definitions on a few of them)
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It’s so tough to keep a good rhyme, and to keep it articulate too, with restrictions on syllables. I like to think my vocabulary is good but I so often need a dictionary too
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That last repetition comes as a surprise when he now wants to forget June rather than ask her to help him forget.
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He didn’t want to fall for her, as he knew her charms would enslave him, so he asked for her help to stop being so irresistable. When he finally did fall for her, she grew bored with him and left. Now he needs help from God to wipe her from his mind.
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What a great subject! and it works perfectly. I have yet to try the nouveau, but this is good inspiration. (K)
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Thank you, Kerfe. It’s not that much more difficult than the regular lai. Your starting word bank of rhymers is the #1 important thing as you need so many of them.
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Good think we have rhymezone…
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and that near-rhyme page has really lifted my constraints!
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Yes, very helpful.
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This is a first I have read – an extended lai nouveau. I really enjoyed the tale and misfortunes and twist of love. Thanks for the wonderful offering!
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Thank you, Grace 🙂
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Very Second Empire 🙂
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from wiki: “Students from all levels of society were granted admission to public secondary schools, thus opening a ladder to sons of peasants and artisans. However, whether through jealousy or a general distrust for the higher classes, few working-class families took advantage or wished to see their sons move up and out of the class of origin. Very few sons of poor families sought admission to the ‘grandes écoles.’ The elite maintained their position while allowing social ascent the professions for ambitious sons of wealthy farmers and small-town merchants.” OK, this poem is written by one of the poet-artisans who takes advantage of going to university, which puts him in the social circles of the elite. That’s when he first lays his eyes on JUNE.
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I was thinking of Maupassant. Your characters reminds me characters from one of his stories.
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Ah! It’s been a long time since I read any historical romantic fiction. I used to mow them down in middle school.
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I don’t think you could describe Maupassant as romantic fiction! Just the opposite. If you want human misery beneath the veneer, he’s your man.
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Ok, I must have been thinking of someone else.
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I wasn’t being catty 🙂 I’ve just been reading some Maupassant. He’s very perceptive especially at picking out the telling details that say so much about what’s going on in behind the social exterior.
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Is he the author then? I was thinking he was a character in a book.
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Yup, author. Try some of his stories. They’re very good.
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Epic in a Lai! Only you could do it!
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As long-winded as I am, a short one isn’t in the cards for me 😉
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🙂
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Very nice flow to your poetry Jade Li. Took me back to the French court in Marie Antoinette’s time for some reason.
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Thank you very much for your kind words. I’m glad you got that feel for it, as the form is French. If you click on the link under the image it tells you when it was painted.
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Oh, I love that painting.
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I do too. It is exquisite! Reminds me of some of the ones you post.
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🙂 🙂
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