Join Poetry Friday with Diane at Random Noodling
My chosen expert for ghazal is J.K. McDowell. Jim published a book of poems that were all written in the ghazal form. I met Jim at a poetry reading last year and again at a wordlab a few months ago. We are now Facebook friends.
To write this ghazal, I read Jim’s book, Night, Mystery, & Light, published by Hiraeth Press. I used his style of 3 lines that together form a unit that could stand alone as a poem. I collected some of his lines and words. When I later researched on the internet, the definition confused me.
From Poets.org “The ghazal is composed of a minimum of five couplets—and typically no more than fifteen—that are structurally, thematically, and emotionally autonomous. Each line of the poem must be of the same length, though meter is not imposed in English. The first couplet introduces a scheme, made up of a rhyme followed by a refrain. Subsequent couplets pick up the same scheme in the second line only, repeating the refrain and rhyming the second line with both lines of the first stanza. The final couplet usually includes the poet’s signature, referring to the author in the first or third person, and frequently including the poet’s own name or a derivation of its meaning. – See more at: http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/5781#sthash.zcpOLhm5.dpuf”
Jim McDowell’s book
I asked Jim about the couplet and rhyming that I didn’t see in his style. This was his response: “The tradition form is two lines of 18. This can be rough in English, so Bly does three lines of 12. Six stanzas is also a Bly innovation, but common. Hafiz has some pretty long ones, he is the Master of the ghazal but not the Ladinsky translations, they are more free form. My limited understanding is to not rhyme but repeat a special word. Also the last stanza can refer to or address the poet. In a higher form the poem even begins and ends with the same word. I still think the most important is that each stanza be a stand alone poem, the leaping and multiple threads and flow the most powerful.”
Now both of these definitions sound rather scholarly and may be too much for you, and for that matter, for your students. But I gave it a good ole college try. I kept to the Bly tradition of 3 lines, six stanzas. Each stanza could stand alone, and each ends with the same word. I also refer to myself in the final stanza. Let me know what you think. I have to say I had fun with this exercise.
…writing bad poetry
A glass of white wine, maybe red, or some pale ale
smears my day’s end like a phantasm of words
echoed in sounds of prayerful poetry.Charlie barks at a passing squirrel, pulls hard.
Loosen the leash, make release for his chase.
Mary Oliver, meanwhile, would write poetry.I want to believe more deeply in pure joy,
sip coffee and look into your eyes for truth.
This delicate awareness becomes my poetry.Mark time with a toast to events of the each day,
Symphony Day, Iris Blooming Day, Waltzing Day.
Give notice to the day that finds poetry.I know this hunger that no food or drink subsides.
Will the sunset reveal a sepulcher of secrets?
Do these rambling scribblings mimic poetry?Historians liken Margaret to a queen who waves
from high upon the royal steed. Did any
Margaret you know turn blue writing bad poetry?–Margaret Simon, all rights reserved
Reflections on the Teche 
I want to believe more deeply in pure joy Yes, I do, too! Thanks for a heartening verse.
Very inspiring poem, Margaret. Thanks for sharing Jim’s poetry.
The third stanza is my favorite. In craft of poetry class we learned and wrote in various forms. I wrote a ghazal made of lines from The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyain.
Thought this was an outstanding first try! I especially like “I know this hunger that no food or drink subsides.”
Wow, I’ve never heard of the ghazal form, but your poem is wonderful. I especially like the lines:
“Mark time with a toast to events of the each day,
Symphony Day, Iris Blooming Day, Waltzing Day.
Give notice to the day that finds poetry.”
Everyday SHOULD be celebrated, especially if poetry is involved. Thanks for sharing, Margaret! =)
I have a copy of Sheniz Janmohamed’s book “Bleeding Light”, which is ghazal poetry. I have tried studying it but it confounds me and I have not tried writing any. I am interested in your Bly modification and might try that. Thanks for posting this!
Margaret, it’s beautifully done. I will try this sometime, but I am in awe of your work-(te he-not bad!). I love that 2nd stanza that includes “Mary Oliver, meanwhile, would write poetry.” What tongue-in-cheek fun! Thanks for the education and the pleasure!
I love Mary Oliver and I was thinking about how she writes about her dog so often. She can find poetry in every living moment. That is my goal. In fact, one of my students told me this week that she cannot do anything without thinking about writing a poem about it, even on the baseball field. I hugged her and said, “That is exactly what I’ve been hoping for!”
Thanks for explaining ghazal poetry! Those different forms practically sound like they deserve two different names. You did a bang-up job. I have too many favorite lines to pick any just one.
Thanks, Tabatha. In the long run, poetry is poetry. After trying all these forms, I’ll be ready to go back to free form.
My favorite is the fourth stanza. I love those special days!
All writers can benefit from exercises like this! Mostly because of the challenge it poses us, and new angle it forces us to see. My favorite stanza was the last!
Hello 2013, from 2021! Margaret, this first ghazal dabbling is so fascinating, and your connection with Jim and his coaching makes me very curious…but apart from all that, this is a fantastic poem. I can’t put my finger on why it sounds very different from the work I know from the last few years…is it just that we all grow and change? This one sounds, I don’t know, loose, more authoritative? Do we clench up as we get older, or as the world gets relentlessly scarier? Thanks for directing us here. ❤
This is so interesting. I searched my blog because I remembered writing a ghazal once before. I also looked in my books for Jim’s book. I didn’t find either and yet, good ole wordpress sent you here anyway. I feel there is art in writing as in any art form and we go through different periods. Perhaps taking myself more seriously as a poet has changed me, and not so much for the better?