This is inspired in part by fury at what's happening with the pandemic, in part by the ongoing climate collapse, and in part by learning about the poet Petrarch and specifically his life during the Black Plague. His letters of comfort to friends evolved from "don't worry, they're with God now" to "are we really so much wickeder than our parents that we deserved this?"
The past really is a foreign country and to Petrarch I can only imagine that it seemed as though the world was dying all around him.
I decided therefore that the form of the sonnet would be good for expressing this, since it is a form that Petrarch cultivated. (I did not, however, use Petrarch's rhyme scheme.) This is the result. Some stuff I'm pleased with, some stuff I'm unsure of, some stuff I'm very pleased with. It was a struggle and a pleasure to be working with in a considerably more formal structure than the previous free verse poems I've written.
Here, for reference is the Petrarchan sonnet rhyme scheme:
ABBA / ABBA / CDE / CDE
(or CDC / DCD)
The Shakesperean sonnet rhyme scheme is:
ABAB / CDCD / EFEG / GG
The rhyme scheme I've used is this:
ABBA / CDDC / EFFE / GG
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