For the Litmas poetry contest.

So, let me remind you of the competition guidelines, and take you through my thought process… should you be interested.

Holiday landscape:
If you take the most obvious definition of ‘landscape’, the one I get this time of year is pretty dull: grey, with a few leftover autumn leaves and feeble drizzly rain a fair amount of the time. But that’s not a very good poem, is it? But according to the dictionary in my word processor, landscape can simply mean ‘general situation of activity: the general situation providing the background to a particular type of activity’.* So that covers a multitude of sins, really, doesn’t it?

*Encarta ® World English Dictionary © & (P) 1998-2004 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

Cultural customs:
Have you ever applied to a college or university that boasts ‘ethnic diversity’? Students come from all kinds of backgrounds and cultures, and yet when they come together they create a brand new culture all their own. We students are often stereotyped as layabouts and partygoers, sometimes unjustly, but for most of us December is not one of those sometimes. This poem is fairly general in terms of wider culture and customs, although I do mention ‘Christmas’ once. It’s only that all the holiday specials I’ve ever seen are either mostly or wholly about Christmas; I think statistically it’s what you’re most likely to see if you turn on your (snowy-pictured twelve-inch) TV this time of year.

Fixed form:
Villanelle. Not my best form by any means. Actually, this is only the second villanelle I’ve ever written in my life. It’s so hard, which makes one inclined to think it might not have been the best idea for a contest entry - but this time, as a matter of fact, it wasn’t as hard as all that. Those refrains came to me straight off, as the repetitive form seemed appropriate to the average student’s circular way of thinking: Oh, I’ve got those essays to write… but it’s holidays… but I’ve got those essays to write… but it’s holidays - and so forth. (It’s… not just me, is it? )