When Asked: “What’s Your
Favorite Season?”
—a villanelle
I can’t decide which season I like best;
they all have hallmarks that I love—can’t pick.
Whichever time of year I’m truly blessed.
There’s spring, when birds begin to build their nests,
and all can once more go out for a picnic;
I can’t decide which season I like best.
There’s summer: many families take a rest
and have vacations that go by too quick;
my summer memories make me feel blessed.
There’s fall: we give God thanks, and then digest
lots of food to the point of being sick;
I can’t decide which season I like best.
There’s winter, holidays and Christmas zest,
when we should learn to gift just like Saint Nick;
to give and to receive makes me feel blessed.
I like the seasons, all; I failed the test.
The question is complex; it is a trick.
I can’t decide which season I like best—
whichever time of year I’m truly blessed.
Paul Millan currently resides in Glendora, California. His work has appeared on Lighten-Up Online, and will appear in Westward Quarterly.
Good question to address in a villanelle, Paul; just the right number of stanzas to treat it. Fall seems to come out last in the contest with the uncomfortable sickening. Though there’s no winner, you do have a good turn of thought for winter–not just receiving from Saint Nick, but seeing an opportunity to give as he does. “To give and to receive makes me feel blessed,” too!
With all due respect to Paul Millan, who has posted some very good poems here, I think we need to take a break from cloyingly sentimental poems about nature and the seasons.
Though I, too, Joseph, tend to be hawkish when it comes to the mawkish, in this case I didn’t mind the homespun threads running through this fabric. I was more disappointed by the rhyme irregularities in the second stanza, but if we take the poem as an example of light (or slight) verse, it all makes sense.
Villanelle happens to be my all-time favorite form. Sometimes they can be a bit clunky, but this one is smooth as silk and wonderfully accessible.
My first thought was the same as Margaret’s. What a fine topic for a villanelle. Nicely done, Paul.
I like it! An elegant villanelle.
Although personally I am having a hard time to understand how spring is not everyone’s preference 🙂