a Seeking a form consistent with my themes,
b I found the Petrarch sonnet in a book,
b And studied how the patterned lines might look
a Should I translate my thoughts into graphemes.

a The trick is to collect your words, it seems,
b And pair them by the spoken sounds, and hook
b Ideas upon the sounds. I undertook
a To try this Macchiavelli of rhyme-schemes.


c The problem isn’t rhyming, I have found –
d The dictionary gives me rhymes, and more
e Suggests wild new connections to my mind
c That lift my stumbling feet above the ground –
d But metrical constraints, to which before
e I’d never ever found my feet confined.