Friday Poetry: A Crown of Sonnets

You may have noticed I write a lot of haiku (for April's National Poetry Month I'm writing at least one a day here). In my youth I was a free verse girl. But last fall I was thrilled to receive an invitation from Liz Garton Scanlon to participate in something called a "Crown of Sonnets" The idea is that each of us in the group would write one sonnet on a similar theme and they would all be hooked together. Here is where she shared another sonnet she had written in a different group: The Seventh Sonnet

This is how Liz explained it to us in her proposal:

"A Crown Sonnet is a string of seven interconnected sonnets. Each sonnet after the first one will use the last line from the preceding sonnet as its first line. The final sonnet (#7) uses the last line of sonnet six as its first line AND the first line of the very first sonnet as its last line. The perfect book-end."

Last winter at Writing and Ruminating Kelly explained how to write a Sonnet.

Well I have never been known for thinking over much before leaping and I saw this as a mind-blowing opportunity to work with some high caliber poet bloggers. I clicked "reply" and typed "yes please, count me in" before the email was lost in my inbox. Then I started to hyperventilate and terror set in.

Fortunately these other poets are thoughtful, responsible, nurturing souls. They are all proven poets and patient teachers. I am so humbled and blessed to be part of this group. I still have to pinch myself to know I am awake.

We chose a theme. We drew straws to establish the writing order. We worked all winter. One by one we plunged into the abyss and came up with a working sonnet. We were delighted over and over as each poem took shape. We opened a common document to read each other's work, offer suggestions for word choice and meter, and we revised. The thoughtful comments I received from the other poets drew my work from a rough attempt to an actual poem. After six months of effort we have pulled together a crown that I am proud and privileged to announce here.

The whole crown "Cutting a Swath" is presented in it's entirety at Liz Garton Scanlon's blog Liz in Ink.

Here are the the participant poets, in order, with the first lines of their sonnets (click to read at each one's site):

As shoes untied, you drag frayed words in trail - Sara Lewis Holmes

As lacy skirts, unbound, leap free and spark - Laura Purdie-Salas

Flying through life’s grand chaos, bright and vast - Tricia Stohr-Hunt

Because I live and breathe, to be set free - Liz Garton Scanlon

My name will be too small to hold me soon -TadMack

My eyes now disenchanted; my soul frees - Andromeda Jazmon

Through open window, past a well-scarred sill - Kelly Fineman

You've really got to go to Liz in Ink and read them right straight through all together! Then visit each poet's site and congratulate them. Here is my contribution to the crown:

#6
My eyes now disenchanted; my soul frees
one stifled cry - then peace behind the door.
My room, my sacred space above the floor
is all that shields me from their strident pleas.
They've chosen out the path of life for me;
their scholarship a prize I would ignore.
I spurn the grind of their required score.
I cut them off. I beg them. Let me be!
I mark the time and hide myself away,
no greater plan than lay about and dream
within the walls that guard my fractious will.
My music pounds. The restless shadows play.
Light curls across a ceiling cracked and mean.
My window opens past a well-scarred sill.

The Friday Poetry round-up is here today. Leave your link in Mr. Linky below and be sure to come back later in the day to visit all the other poetry posts.