﻿A bit of a lesson on poetry, as I’ve realized that not everyone may know the details of specific forms of poetry (and also, because I’m rapidly running out of vaguely interesting things to say about the anything). So, a Shakespearean sonnet is a poem of fourteen lines that has a specific rhyme scheme: abab cdcd efef gg. Each line is also done in iambic pentameter, which means it has five iambs (a non-stressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable). A good example of iambic pentameter:
“Rough WINDS do SHAKE the DARling BUDS of MAY.”

Alternatively: 
“Come ON and SLAM, and WELcome TO the JAM.”

Your first three quatrains (groups of four verses, here abab, cdcd, and efef) ideally describe a problem, question, or circumstance, whereas your final couplet (two grouped lines, here gg) is supposed to be a turning point for the poem, summarizing and responding to the first three quatrains.

This information is, of course, of little use, because the following poem is a free verse and thus follows no rules at all.


Fleeting Passion in the Street

Burn me
Take from my body the cold and empty
And fill me instead with heat and light
Bring passion to the void and let it consume.

Sink me
What cinders remain, to the depths condemn
Let no-one see the husk of what’s left
When there’s nothing left to speak for me

Forget me
Let my passing be a shadow, a whisper on the wind
Here but for a moment and then passed from caring
Unmarked from lives moved on.


And now, onto lewder things.


The Rope
Tethered to you, bound /
I’ve will but I cannot act /
You’re my impetus.

The Knot
Thrusting, grunting, close /
You want me, and I want it /
Pressed up against me.

The Burn
Your mouth is a match /
My slick body, your kindling /
My senses, ablaze.

The Release
Every part of me /
Twitching, writhing, bringing us /
Both over the edge.


- Charles Michael Averin
