Oulipost #12: Sonnet
The man who
wore green ties, the heartbleed bug
A sudden
death, pervasive online world
Until we meet
again, Heartbleed is down
The bond of
trust was ordered to shut down
She called
to check on it before it died
Believed to
be affected, full of holes
It’s a massive
hole; we still don’t know
Grocery lists,
bad news and poetry
Become more
common place--it’s hard to hide
Wrongdoing
in the handling of complaints
The one who knows to stop from breaking down
Whose face is marred by dust and sweat and
blood
Great
adventure this, in even lower depths
We still don’t
know.
SOURCES
Hurley, Meghan. “Flaherty sought Leitch’s help on day he
died.” The Ottawa Citizen. 12 April 2014. A1.
Fekete, Jason. “State funeral planned for Flaherty.” Ibid. A2.
Smith, Patrick. “Advocates for disabled laud finance
minister’s support.” Ibid. A2.
Panetta, Alexander, THE CANADIAN PRESS. “Key world officials
mourn Canada’s loss. Ibid. A2.
Press, Jordan. “Federal sites shut down over bug fear.” Ibid. A3.
Pilieci, Vito. “Heartbleed is a wake-up call for our
pervasive online world. “Ibid. A3.
May, Kathryn. “Integrity office gets its knuckles rapped.” Ibid. A3.
Maher, Stephen. POSTMEDIA NEWS. “Flaherty knew that
politicians risk more than most of us.” Ibid.
A4.
Brian Lee Crowley. “Flaherty listened, and acted on what he
heard. Ibid. B7.
PROMPT: SONNET
Write a sonnet sourced from lines found in newspaper
articles. You may choose your own sonnet type (Examples here) and should feel
free to be creative with the rules. One known Oulipo variation is “sonnets of
variable length,” in which one must compose a sonnet in which the lines are
either as short as possible or as long as possible.
ELABORATIONS
I wimped out on rhyme scheme. I would have needed days to
rhyme in iambic pentameter from the newspaper. I think I got the turn ok though
& the meter is mostly iambic pentameter…methinks. The fuckuppery of the
last line is deliberate.
I decided to combine the death of former Federal finance
minister, Jim Flaherty with the coverage of the recent computer virus,
Heartbleed. The idea of the pervasiveness of our online presence & the lack
of discretion, coupled with our vulnerability & the vulnerability of the
heart, of life itself, seemed to go together. I hope that it wasn’t
disrespectful in any way. Credit goes to Teddy Roosevelt for the lines in
italics.
I had to pass up some golden lines because I couldn’t fit
them into the meter, in the form of an Irish blessing:
“May the road rise up to meet you, may the wind be always at
your back. May the sun shine warm upon your face, may the rain fall upon your
fields, and until we meet again, may God hold you in the hollow of his hands.”
Go to the Found Poetry Review to read sonnets by my fellow Ouliposters.
1 comment:
That's the problem with having an ear. Makes writing more difficult when the brain chimes: not iambic! So glad you did not attempt rhyme. This is intimidating enough in its workability.
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