As far as I know, the rule for villanelles is iambic pentameter - though that's probably been fucked with enough recently to not matter anymore. There was a decent villanelle here a few days ago in tetrameter. The two famous examples of the form that pop into my head, Dylan Thomas' "Do not go gentle..." and Elizabeth Bishop's "One Art", are both in pentameter - a fact which you seem to have picked up on, if unconsciously. The missing syllables are minor things, easily corrected. If you don't mind: With MY cursed pen I craft this vilanelle, its shape a blade whose lustre SHALL NOT fade but of course that DOESN'T mean THAT it'll sell. Never-the-less I am sure it shall cut well. Even if this days' end leaves me unpaid, with my cursed pen I craft this vilanelle. This blade struck HARD, IT echoes a shrill knell; close to flesh, it'll make a man afraid, but of course that DOESN'T mean THAT it'll sell. Used BY SKILLED HANDS, it shall bid you farewell; its thirst and thrust MERE men can not evade. With cursed pen I've crafted this vilanelle. If unsold, within my sheath it shall dwell, till a FOE'S flesh stirs it to SWIFT invade; once it has slain, this blade I SHALL NOT sell. It'll serve me well, my FEARSOME blade from hell; a weapon well worth a day left unpaid. With cursed pen I've crafted this vilanelle; and death with its keen edge is what I sell. Okay - I'm reading "of course" as one syllable, which seems natural. And I'm overlooking some backwards accents. The capitalized words are placeholders; you can think of better words to go in them than I can. But that's a general idea - any help?

Ranker Fact: Darkie doesn't like anything that I write or say/do, but thats his purpose in my life on rankerville. But aside from that, I'm throwin in the apostrophe. -and hopefully ill do it correctly! leave it to beaver and his meat cleaver-

The pre-twentieth-century poetic reading of a word like "cursed" would have been "CUR-sed" (which is why it is sometimes, but nowhere near always, written "curséd".) A one-syllable "cursed" would have been written "curs'd" to avoid confusion, the apostrophe representing the dropped (and therefore unpronounced) vowel. This is where 'stain'd' and 'bow'ls' come from. Today we usually read according to standard pronunciation most of the time, so cursed (at least around here) has one syllable. But in your first line you have to read "with CUR-sed PEN i CRAFT this VILaNELLE," in order to keep the pentameter. In the next stanza you write "with MY cursed PEN..." making a one-syllable cursed. It should at least be consistent, whichever way you go. Or throw in an apostrophe if you like. I'm sure he'll/they'll love it.

Looks like you're using the "Kid Glove" explaination.

I'm sorry, this conversation is so old I've grown up since then, and now concur, carry on. By the way, you're thoroughly fucking simmered.

Have both? (well, I never knew darkie has his own special way for reading cursed) Ah, well, how bout I supplement that with CURST? That lets it flow better anyway.. I hope darkie doesn't have some special version of that. As for the short syllable lines: I wasn't paying exact attention to the meter. I'm probably wrong, but I thought it wasn't a requirement in a vill.. explain since I'd like to know the rules for the form.

Yours is better, but too hurried. Does that make sense?

PS: this is my fourth? or fifth vil.. and nent needs to fix the spelling of villenelle, since he had me convinced theres only 3 l's.. and I feel foolish... oh well, he gets the blame. :x

Don't ask how much time I spent to craft it.. but im getting better at it, and the one I made yesterday was loaded with angst. Atleast I'm getting some skill with form under the belt, and its pretty fun, even though I mold it with an old womans pace lol.

*cough* that was a test... But HERE IS THE REAL POEM! MY BRAND SPANKIN NEW VILANELLE!! cmon now, I'm not one to hiss "sss" and call it my latest piece lol.

but, why? I need to know WHY your image is better than mine. more immediate/direct, perhaps? Why- is very important to me. Thanks for coming back.

She talks quietly with the elderly couple, seeming healthy except for her rubberized hands: Small bendable fingers, look alikes, no fancy prosthetics, stainless hooks, or muscle triggers. It took both of her hands to manouevre, the fork just to pick a single beet slice. I watched her a little longer than I should have, maybe, until a waiter appeared beside me clutching the bill in a white glove.

MY GOD MAN! HAVE YOU FORGOTTEN KIRSCHNER? oops. Wrong room. sorry. Excellent point. It tickles the tympanum better this way also. I won't rewrite it though. It wouldn't feel like mine anymore. BTW, your Bretheren should sit next to "Instructions to a sculptor". Too bad the scoring has gotten such a bad rap.

What ever happened to mixing pseudo-romance and farting as big No-No, rhymes & cliche aside? Maybe theres hope in using farts in a haiku about ass-licking.. as sick as that sounds.. its just more promising than the above poem.