Re-Donne
A Poem
Re-Donne
Forge and Fire, Press and Screw,
Carving demons spitting spew,
Intense grotesques in discotheques,
Chancing dance amidst the specks.
Grinning, sinning, sharp and wide,
Piercing, probing, slip inside,
A little act, a little play,
Rhyming when the creatures lay.
Screaming meaning, leaking seeming,
Sacred deeming of dirty dreaming,
Where in the labyrinth’s stressful lines,
Love and Wit are intertwined. Notes:
Coleridge’s “On Donne’s Poetry”
Forge and Fire, Press and Screw,
The /u/, /u/ rhythm of this line is repeated or echoed throughout, giving it an insistence. And the whole poem is one long sentence with the subject and verb in the last line. That the topic is Donne's poetry comes only from the title. Rhymes, slant rhymes, internal rhymes, alliteration. Lots of word play and this drives the poem. Some of the tropes (Chancing dance among the specs) don't have a clear visual sense. It works together to give Donne's poetry a swirling praise. Thank you for this. I like the heavy reliance on sound.