February 16-22, 2025
14 sonnets whose first lines become the 15th sonnet spread across 8 sonnet forms: : Shakespearean, Petrarchan, Spenserian, Miltonic-Petrarchan, Curtzal, Terza Rima, Kirch, and modern. Not a true sonnet crown as the last line of each sonnet does not become the first line of the next.
No. 1
A Life Well Lived
February 16, 2025
Shakespearean/English
ABAB CDCD EFEF GG
Will you visit me in my lonely bed,
Will you just hold my hand and stay awhile?
After a bit, ignore the tears we’ve shed,
And remember the past with me and smile.
We can talk of days long gone by, and then,
Imagining lost walks over the years.
And think of our time that might have been,
Lament the time on the phone disappeared.
Hold me, as I lay in this mortal coil,
I am so grateful for you, my best friend.
It is peaceful beyond the world’s turmoil,
Getting to spend life with you at the end.
Help me remember more than I forget,
With you, I’ve lived a life without regret.
No. 2
When Only I Remember
February 20, 2025
Shakespearean/English
ABAB CDCD EFEF GG
You do not remember the way I do,
The golden sun glistening in your hair.
The drops of your tears like the morning dew,
The breeze of the summer dress that you’d wear.
You do not remember when we first touched,
An aching furtive brush of our hands.
The electricity of life’s first crush,
A connection, a kismet that transcends.
You may forget, we were once forever,
Your memory now is all but a wisp.
And this cherished time we were together,
Has all but dissolved in forgotten bliss.
Don’t you worry, my love, it is no fuss…
I’ll remember it all, for both of us.
No. 3
Remind me of Champagne and Caviar
February 20, 2025
Petrarchan/Italian 1
ABBAABBA CDECDE
The wondrous power of this life we’ve shared
Is this most basic part of who we are,
So then I hope you don’t find it bizzare,
That I wish you’d stay with me at this bed.
Being alone fills me with so much dread,
Remind me of champagne and caviar,
And the steak we ate at that abattoir,
Let us cherish all of the joy instead.
I can remember the day we first met,
It’s funny to think how we were so young,
I remember like it was yesterday.
It’s like something out of an old vignette,
And yet everything now seems so far-flung,
Thank you, my friend, for coming here today.
No. 4
What Matters is We are Together
February 20, 2025
Spencarian
ABAB BCBC CDCD EE
The essence of the universe’s truth,
Is that you’re really a crazy old fart.
You’ve always been insane since our youth,
You’ve gotten worse since we have been apart.
I’ll admit that call gave me quite a start,
And I caught the first flight once I had heard.
After all, you’ll always be my sweetheart,
Even though you just now flipped me the bird.
Back in our vows, I gave you my word,
I would take care of you when the time came.
Though the lines between us have since been blurred,
My true feelings for you will never change.
The years have passed but we are forever.
It matters most that we are together.
No.5
A Conscience Scared
February 20, 2025
Miltonic Petrarchan/Italian 2
ABBAABBA CDCDCD
The miracle is that we are conscious,
Though I am somewhat less being this way.
I hear you though, more than the words you say,
And I cherish everything you promise.
Some say that we are born without conscience,
Or that we’re born with scruples we obey.
There was that incident in Monterey,
Morals would have made it less obnoxious.
Ah, I only kid because I am scared,
And I am not afraid to admit it.
The impending moment leaves one’s soul bared,
An honest moment before I submit.
In the end, only you have even cared,
You are the only one who gave a shit.
No. 6
Our Bucket List
February 20, 2025
Curtal
ABCBCB DBCDC EDE
It is a pity that lives are so short,
We had so much that we had planned to do.
All of those things on our bucket list,
Travel, love, and a little derring-do.
And do you remember where we first kissed,
At the restaurant by the Panda Zoo,
A terrine of pate and some escargot,
And the start of something more than a tryst.
We had adventures, those places to see,
Now we’re here and there’s nowhere left to go,
“Except for one last adventure for me.”
No. 7
Larger Than LIfe
February 21, 2025
Terza Rima
ABA BCB CDC DED EE
We start our lives with so much promise,
We should live up to our potential.
It never happens if I am honest,
Even with every earned credential.
What if we’re not recognized like Van Gogh?
Instead, let’s focus on the essential.
Listening to you play the piano,
Chopin’s fantasie impromptu in D.
Or the 13 key changes as a soprano,
As you belt out Lloyd Webber’s “Memory”.
I miss laying next to you in the dark,
And I miss watching you smile as you sleep.
Larger than life, that is your story arc,
Rescuing floating balloons in the park.
No. 8
It’s the Simple Things
February 21, 2025
Kirsch
ABBAABBA ABBAABBA
It is what we do, not what we purport.
It is not the grandiose life, you ask?
It’s the simple things, sorry, not the vast,
It is the times when I needed support.
Going out to pick up milk, just a quart,
Or cleaning the house without being asked.
Helping strangers, unbidden unabashed,
That, instead of a tropical resort.
Picking my parents up from the airport,
And finding a place for that kid to crash.
Holding my hair after I drank too fast,
Holding my head when I was out of sorts.
You’re a little soft, you’re a worry wort,
I love that you’re vulnerable, you ass.
And why do I bring up all of this past?
I love you because you ARE a good sport.
No. 9
Intention is a Life-Curtsey
February 22, 2025
Spencarian
ABAB BCBC CDCD EE
We’re what we do, not who we want to be,
The road to hell’s paved with good intention.
With so many people that cannot see,
It is now time for an intervention.
Morality is an odd convention,
So many people thinking they are good.
You would think it was some huge invention,
Many of us doing less than we should.
I am wrong? Maybe they’re misunderstood,
And people are good fundamentally.
But if we look around the neighborhood,
I am afraid that is not what we see.
Intention is barely a life-curtsy,
It is what we do that makes us worthy.
No. 10
The Makeup of LIfe
February 22, 2025
Curtal
ABCBCB DBCDC EDE
Life is made up of moments of acting.
“Fake it till you make it,” they often say,
Leaving many with Imposter syndrome.
Life is measured as we march through each day,
Much like the Tik-Tok of a metronome,
Under relentless judgment on display.
When you reflect on the makeup of life,
Is who we are found in some chromosome?
Is it the sum of doing what we can?
Or we look deeper and know what is right,
It is not just “the clothes that make the man.”
No. 11
Legacy
February 22, 2025
Terza Rima
ABA BCB CDC DED EE
What you do is really all people see,
And I am afraid we are nothing more.
Perception does become reality,
Even if you are rotten at the core.
Think a moment, about your legacy
Can make a difference and change the score?
Take a look at Nobel and Carnegie,
Perhaps rehabilitating your soul,
Unless you would like drowning endlessly,
And being a wastrel, your only goal.
Even if it’s a bedside confession,
Assuming that is all you can control.
And what is the point of this grand lesson?
It might be, “Not all dogs go to heaven.”
No. 12
Maybe My Soul is Wanting
February 22, 2025
Kirsch
ABBAABBA ABBAABBA
“Act well, even when no one is watching,”
Don’t you think you are laying it on thick?
It’s just all of this preaching makes me sick;
And you act as if my soul needs washing.
I can’t believe you’re sitting here plotting,
It’s not as if I have gone all John Wick,
And I will not be beaten with a stick,
Until I am left gasping and coughing.
Life is simpler much with less sobbing,
Maybe we can just do our own schtick,
Maybe we hang out with our own clicks,
Life is simpler is that so shocking?
I admit, it is a little haunting,
Maybe how we act is what makes life tick,
And maybe my doubt puts me in conflict,
It may just be that my soul is wanting.
No. 13
Live with Kindness
February 22, 2025
Modern – Rhyming Couplets
AABB CCDD EEFF GG
Add to life a heart that is forgiving,
Add to love without any misgivings,
Let’s offer hope and offer it freely,
Make them feel a sense of security,
We live in a world of interesting times,
We live when the world normalizes crimes.
You cannot shirk responsibility,
Now is the time to change reality.
In these troubled times, we must brave the risks,
In these velvet gloves must be iron fists,
The wisdom we gain is lost on the youth,
All I ask is to embrace this one truth:
To have life with any satisfaction,
Live with kindness, with acts of compassion.
No. 14
With You, Not So Lonely
February 22, 2025
Modern – Modified Shakespearean
ABAB CDCD EFEF GH
Suddenly, you have a life worth living,
How much time we have we can never know.
I wish each day we could be more giving,
To add to the world and help it to grow.
In our children there’s inspiration,
With them, there is hope for the human race.
And if they have hope and firm conviction,
They can make the world a much better place.
I know I have been rambling as of late
I guess I have a soul that needs baring
See, the opposite of love isn’t hate,
It is simply when people stop caring.
And suddenly it is not so lonely,
With you by my side, I am not afraid.
Final Culmination
A Life Worth Living
February 20, 2025
Shakespearean Uncrowned Modern Redouble
ABAB CDCD EFEF GG
“Will you visit me in my lonely bed?” (Shakespearean)
You do not remember the way I do, (Shakespearean)
The wondrous power of the life we’ve shared, (Petrarchan 1)
Is the essence of the universe’s truth. (Spencerian)
The miracle is that we are conscious, (Miltonic Petrarchan 2)
It is a pity that lives are so short. (Curtzal)
We start our lives with so much promise, (Terza Rima)
It is what we do not what we purport. (Kirsch)
We’re what we do, not who we want to be, (Spencerian)
Life is made up of moments of acting. (Curtzal)
What you do is really all people see, (Terza Rima)
Act well, even when no one is watching. (Kirsch)
Add to life a heart that is forgiving, (Any – Modern)
Suddenly, you have a life worth living (Any – Shakespearean)
Author’s notes – why this is not a sonnet heroic crown
Frankly, I misread the instruction about a sonnet crown, where the last line of a sonnet becomes the first line of the next, so in one way it is an instant fail. In this series of sonnets, I did make an exchange between two “characters,” like a heroic crown might have only I gave each new sonnet a new first line.
The fourteen sonnets’ first lines then become the 15th sonnet.
I wanted to add a new layer of complexity to the work which was I wrote the sonnets in all 8 of the known sonnet forms and I discovered two things. The Petrarchan sonnet, the original Italian form has two main forms. Milton liked to write the Petrarchan sonnet and the only distinction I could find for the Milton sonnet was that he wrote them. SO I used the two petrarchan forms as a 1 and 2 form replacing the Milton per se.
A little sad that it is not a full heroic crown, but perhaps someday I will attempt it again. I wrote 13 sonnets in three days (used the two I wrote last week to start), so I think I may take a break for bit before making a new attempt.