Photo Credit: Roland Chadwick
oppressive heat has stifled your desire
such effort holds your soul within its sway
no shade nor breeze lends refuge though it may
fan flames that surge unyielding ever higher
you search for words to quench the smoldering fire
you scan the clouds—the pages of this day
your thoughts bleed down your brow and fade away
the muse you sought, sought darkness and expired
you dream, but love refuses your advance
this foe suppresses creativity
be still and wait for cooler days to come
a flash of light that slashes like a lance
to open up the skies to rain to see
a poem taking shape, now watch it grow
Petrarchan Sonnet: abbaabba cdecde
Photo Credit: ladieswhocritique.com
I wrote this a few weeks ago and forgot about it. It was a week of record-breaking weather, temperatures in the 100’s (F), and I found it difficult to write anything, so I turned to the discipline of form poetry to help me get started.
This would have worked well for Saturday’s Poetic’s Prompt offered by Claudia Schoenfeld, but I was deep into a writing project and learning how to self-publish on Kindle. So with a nod to last week, here it is for Open Link Night. The doors open 3:00 PM EDT. Please join us.
Victoria C. Slotto, Author 
So perfectly true! The heat down here in the South-land makes being outside dreadful, and it doesn’t leave a lot to do except be inside and spoiled in the A/C. My muse has fled lately too – not sure if the heat drove it away or it’s just recharging (maybe someplace cool – ha) but here’s hoping all of our muses return post-haste! 🙂
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self-publishing is a job in itself… best wishing… lovely poem
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Such a beautiful poem…!
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the hot weather can definitely be a lethal distraction to our creative abilities…just too hot to spend any energy! great poem!
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I’ve been on the West Coast for a week in very lovely weather and writing like mad! Going back soon to humidity that feels like a wet sweater, hope the muse has a sense of humor:)
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Well put, Victoria.
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Wonderful sonnet! Your skill with the craft of poetry shines through along with your love of writing and dismay when your muse hides from elements out of your control.
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I like the link between the weather and writer’s block. Unfortunately for me, I can’t blame the weather when no thoughts come to me. The blocks are frequent and with no apparent cause. You, on the other hand, write beautifully when it’s too hot, and having trouble with your muse.
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Excellent sonnet, Victoria–very musical, and very true. Many forms of exhaustion derail the muse, but she is amazingly resilient, and form can be a great asset in reviving her, as it does here for you.
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Lovely. Know how this feels as we are near the ninety F today 🙂
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There’s a shimmering sense of yearning.. whether for cooler weather, a lover’s touch or the gift of creativity. I really enjoyed how you explored this through a sonnet and there is a graceful lilt which is somehow countered by some sharp vocaubulary.. this works very well for the theme I think.
[Small point of critique.. more a question really.. were you intentionally breaking the rhyme scheme in the final stanza as I was expecting the final word to rhyme with ‘grow’ ?]
Also a great image to set the shimmer off.
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Becky, do you know how much I miss your critique? Thanks for catching this. It wasn’t intentional but I’ll need to revisit it to see what I want to do with it. Thank you.
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Happy to help Victoria and look forward to seeing where you might go with this one if you’re going to stick firmly to the rhyme scheme.
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…the growth of a poem for me depends on its readers…how each reader will carry a piece they read through times… the poets are here to plant the poem & as to its survival? let the readers define it for ’em… smiles… i love this Victoria… a beautifully written sonnet…
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The title alone is an entire poem for me.
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The travel of thoughts is interesting and the form captures it well.
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So smooth! Love this, Victoria!
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I really like this line, Victoria (and the whole poem, of course):
“your thoughts bleed down your brow and fade away”
We are having a heat wave this week, and I can feel my thoughts bleed away too 🙂
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beautifully rendered, Victoria – is that how one bears intolerable heat, by writing beautiful poetry? – i must try it sometime 😉
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Victoria, I adored this sonnet you have such a lovely way with words. I always enjoy visiting your place.
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Yet your poetic sensibilities fought off the sultry heat and devised a beautiful petrarchan sonnet that captures so many summers I have known – hunkered down with cabin fever trying to write and think through the air-conditioned whir.
Yet, this year, while others swelter we have 70 degree July days (in Texas!) – it’s a MIRACLE! A cool spring, green grass, and the ability to enjoy a summer day. I’m sure it will return to triple digits in a few days but for now – we’re enjoying cool refreshing showers.
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may the muse be with you in the heat and in the cool… thank you for your poetry to tell us that in the hot there is also meaning…it is all in how we see it. thank you
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you’ve inspired me…i want to try one of these now.
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I’ve tried writing poetry in the heat. My brain won’t connect lines. Tis rather annoying.
Also, great use of form here.
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Like your Petrarchan sonnet. Form is great way to start the engines up again.
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First of all, Victoria, this is a beautiful sonnet. I am unable to write them at all, so when I see a well-crafted one, I am impressed. I know all about the ever allusive muse, she seems to hide at the most inconvenient times. Hope you can stay cool, over a hundred is torture.
Pamela
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How appropriate for the time of year, an anniversary, to demonstrate the forming of poetry – love it
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When out of touch with the muse–write about the muse–way to go!
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Amazing to compose a sonnet in such heat… and yes it would have been a suitable poem to share on Saturday.. Just amazing to have poems lying around like that.
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too hot to love, too hot to write, too hot to live
may the cooling rains fall
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Victoria, I only can recognize one kind of sonnet but this was a beautiful poem>KB
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This is a really well constructed sonnet, Victoria, and it’s so true that the heat interferes with our creativity and ability to think. We’ve had high temperatures here for the past couple fo weeks – high for Scotland that is … smiles. Nearly everyone has been struggling. I’m just so glad that it never gets that hot here …
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I always think of the muse as a fickle lover. Watch it grow, indeed.
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that sounds hot indeed when it’s even too warm to write… love how you took the form to build the poem…love the watching of the poem taking shape and the growth as well… and cool on the self-publishing project as well
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The moment I read your hilarious title in my email inbox, I was certain that this was one for OLN. A brilliant Petrarchan sonnet, a favourite form of mine.
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A lovely poetry form Victoria ~ The muse sweating and seeking darkness, I can understand ~ Hopefully cooler days find you yielding more poetic gems ~
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So beautiful. Seems you found your baked muse 😉
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It is hard to do a lot in oppressive heat. We didn’t have it here until just this week. Though I wish to do dog walks, it is hard with a blanket of humidity in the air. I’m back to the air-conditioned Y & the treadmill THERE (ha). I like ‘your thoughts bleed down your brow and fade away.’ So true, I think, during hot and muggy weather. I love the last stanza of this poem —- at last the poem being ‘birthed’ and growing on a cool day. May it happen!
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I can appreciate the stifling heat, as it was scorching in London a few days ago (sweaty sardines on the Tube), and it did make me wilt. Great sonnet!
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whew…now that is hot when its too hot to write…too hot to draw out the lover/muse to move….i’d say invest in ice…ha…i like how the light lances the sky to rain and you see a poem forming…smiles.
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