My Poetry: Villanelle: Sottobosco: Gen

[stonepicnicking_okapi]

Title: Sotto bosco [Undergrowth in Italian]
Poetic Form: villanelle
Length: 105
For: mafief Happy Birthday!
Inspired by: A sotto bosco with mushrooms, butterflies, a dragonfly, a lizard, and a snake by Otto Marseus van Schrieck [below].

Upon the teeming forest floor,
cabal of mushrooms stand, and lie,
on fragile stems, immortal spore.

They’re wrought in oils like kings of yore,
in sotto bosco portrait, nigh,
upon the teeming forest floor.

While lizard, asp prepare for war,
the sure-capped reign and petrify
on fragile stems, immortal spore.

In sotto voce, shadows pour
and drip while ghost-wings flutterfly
upon the teeming forest floor.

What will be, what were before
‘are still! alive!’ their thin gills cry
on fragile stems, immortal spore.

Come, little ones, come, let’s explore,
what clever, curious eyes can spy
upon the teeming forest floor,
on fragile stems: IMMORTAL SPORE!

Comments

[lunabee34]

Very cool! This seems so effortless and unforced. What a great example of the form. And such a great accompaniment to the painting.

[stonepicnicking_okapi]

Thanks so much for reading! I'm glad you liked it.

[smallhobbit]

Beautiful!

[stonepicnicking_okapi]

Thank you!

[mafief]

There should be more paintings of mushrooms, like those old kings. More interesting than the old kings, in my humble opinion. ;)

If I interpreted it right, then there is a lot to see in the painting. The moths are very prominent, but there are more hidden details in the non-highlighted region.

Since the biologist can’t help herself, I was thinking about the immortality of spores. Spores can stay in stasis for hundreds of thousands of years. Also the mycelium of the fungi can live and spread indefinitely. So for us short lived humans, they are almost immortal.

[stonepicnicking_okapi]

Yes, these paintings are classified as 'still life' but they are very much alive. And the dark and colors, I thought, made them look rather grander than the usual still life. And, of course, the mushrooms are in the middle.

Right, I had to zoom in to catch the dragonfly and the snake.

Yes, that's what I was thinking too. About the mycelium, that they live and spread indefinitely. So not spores, but then more things rhyme with spore! And I wanted to tie in how you share your love of nature with your children, which I greatly admire.

[scfrankles]

I've just realised it's a Dutch painter - from de Gouden Eeuw (Dutch Golden Age) ^____^

I love how dramatic your poem is. It absolutely captures the atmosphere of the painting - the darkness and danger, and enough power struggles to rival the human world. And the villanelle is such a tricky form but - echoing lunabee34 - your poem reads so impressively smoothly and effortlessly.

Some favourite lines:

They’re wrought in oils like kings of yore,

While lizard, asp prepare for war,/ the sure-capped reign and petrify/ on fragile stems, immortal spore.

In sotto voce, shadows pour/ and drip while ghost-wings flutterfly/ upon the teeming forest floor.

[stonepicnicking_okapi]

Yes, and earlier drafts had more direct reference to a Dutch brush, paint, etc.

Well, I think (and it's my laypoet's opinion) that you have to find the couplet that can withstand that much repetition with the villanelle. And know it's always going to be a bit sing-songy if you make the lines as short as I made these ones.

I was upset that sotto voce and sotto bosco didn't rhyme. I almost wrenched them to make it happen. But I did like the flutterfly for butterfly.

[ancientreader]

Coming in late, I can only echo the insightful comments you've already gotten. The painter, like the speaker of your poem, invites us to attend to and appreciate the drama in a space we might overlook; he would have been thrilled, I bet, to know about the immortal spore/mycelium, don't you think?

[stonepicnicking_okapi]

Yes, I agree. I think that even though this type of painting is called a still life, it's anything but still. More of a moment caught in time. But yet the rich use of shadow and color give it a sort of stately portrait feel. Sort of a regal quality. And he did a lot of these, the artist, with various arrangements of mushrooms, animals, insects, etc. so it was obviously something he really liked and was really good at.

[debriswoman]

Impressive, smoothly and elegantly penned:-)

[stonepicnicking_okapi]

Thank you very much!!