The Voice of Winter–a Villanelle [Poetry Friday]

Happy Poetry Friday! Welcome, everyone! (Wondering what Poetry Friday is? Click here.)

So, this month, our Poetry Princess challenge was Tanita’s choice: A villanelle on a wintry topic, including a pair of words (or homonyms thereof) from the following eleven: bleak, draft, gutter, chill, chime, glitter, gust, harsh, rime, nip, thaw.

I always find the sounds of winter amazing, and here’s what I came up with.

The Voice of Winter, a villanelle by Laura Purdie Salas

I’m on a research trip right now, so I don’t know what my Poetry Sisters have come up with! You’ll be able to find them in the Roundup, though! (Or visit Liz Garton Scanlon’s post here to read her villanelle and see the links to the rest of our group’s work.)

For those and a whole season’s worth of wonderful poems, check out the Poetry Friday Roundup with Tabatha Yeatts!

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19 Responses

  1. Laura, I adore this poem. It’s so kid-friendly and expressive. I can see and hear winter in your poem.

  2. You’ve captured that chilling voice so well, Laura! I love the variety of wildlife and their icy activities. The image of “scratching claws and snatching beaks” gave me goosebumps!

  3. I agree that this poem is so kid friendly! What a great way to introduce the form of villanelle and onomatopoeia. The LIFE of the winter is wonderfully present in this poem.

  4. Laura, I can feel winter when I read this poem. Love it! The sounds and visuals created put me right in the forest. Another winner!

  5. “Of ice that’s crack and crunch and glitter” is my favorite line, though I love all the sounds of winter, too. We lived by a lake long ago and the freezing/thawing sounds were constant from autumn into winter then to spring. Nice, Laura!

  6. I really like this!! You used the words in a totally new way, and this poem is so active and vibrant, albeit chilly!

  7. This is wonderful! I am saving it to use with my students as a poetry lesson/mentor text. Usually I find the villanelle such an impossible task, but you have made it come alive for me.

  8. I find this form is hard to write and make come alive. You did a wonderful job with so many sounds and images, like quaking aspen sssshhhh and flitter. It’s really fun to read.

  9. Oh how I love the sounds, the sights, the rhyme. I am almost tempted to try a villanelle of my home after your inspiring one here.

  10. Laura, this poem is so full of the sounds and images of winter that flow beautifully in rhyme. I agree that you make the villanelle look so easy to create but in reality I know that it is not. Would you consider offering this one for my winter gallery?

  11. Love all the sounds and onomatopoeia that crawls out from your wintery poem–even gives you the shivers… thanks Laura

  12. Fantastic. I always think of winter as silence…but wow, you have made me listen harder to what’s really there. I ADORE the auditory details and the deliberating pacing of your poem, and it’s got that wonderful, child-centered wonder to it, as well. Truly sparkling, Laura!

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