FOR Promptly Poetry Challenge (2023-24)

Petrarchan Sonnet

Form ▼

The Petrarchan sonnet, perfected by the Italian poet Petrarch,
divides the 14 lines into two sections:
an eight-line stanza (octave) rhyming ABBAABBA,
and a six-line stanza (sestet) rhyming CDCDCD or CDECDE.
(10 syllables per line)

I attended a poetry event
Thirteen poets took the stage each in turn
Some outspoken poems made my ears burn
And I think that effect was what they meant.
Manners, decorum - out the window went
Making the audience's feelings churn
A lesson I most certainly did learn
Outer masks hide what inside is all pent.

The poets did indeed have a message
It was up to each of us to find it
Be it love, hate, serenity or rage
Powerful imagery defined it
Poets are foolish - yet wise like the sage
If life hands it out, their verses grind it!