A Question on Falling
Did I let
Go of grasping
Leafy branches or
Just slip?
.
I ask you
When I gently
Softly landed safe
And free,
.
Could you then
Forgive me this
Weightless grace granting
Me breath?
.
Leaves dance in
Summer breeze, then
Slowly flutter from
The tree.
- Lona Gynt, June 2020
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This is posted for dVerse Quadrille Monday hosted by Lynda. A Quadrille is a poem that consists of exactly 44 words, excluding the title, that includes a specified word in some form in the poem. The designated word this round is “slip.” Here is a link to the prompt, check it out and slip into a bit of Quadrille mania.
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I am proposing a specific type of Quadrille with my offering. The classic Quadrille has no requirements for form. But I would like to introduce a subtype of Quadrille that I am calling a Divided Quadrille. I have written a Quadrille with four stanzas, each divided into four lines – the first three lines have three words and the last line of each stanza has 2 words – so the number of words in each stanza is 11 making the Quadrille word count evenly divisible. I have always enjoyed the syllable counting in Shadormas, they subtly render an influence on rhythm and flow of the poem that sounds less beat-steady than a quatrain would, throwing a wrench into the otherwise even divisibility. The form of each stanza is structured thus:
Line one: 3 words – 3 syllables
Line two: 3 words – 4 syllables
Line three: 3 words – 5 syllables
Line four: 2 words – 2 syllables.
I have included one hard rhyme and one soft rhyme at the end of stanzas in this inaugural Divided Quadrille, but do not feel that any requirement for rhyming is needed to adhere to the form, which I feel is mostly about a subtle rhythmic quality to the poem. I hope y’all might dabble in it at some point. I mostly write free verse, but the content of this poem felt more like it needed a form to me.
-All rights to text and pictures to Lona Gynt, June 2020
(P.S. I am happy to say the answer has seemed to be yes).
Scattered thoughts made a little more random 
Lona,
Beautifully composed and I really like your title. This stanza especially spoke to me. Thank you for sharing.
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thank you Ali. Sometimes the Title is so critical to the Quadrille becasue it is an opportunity to add substantive elements outside the constraints. I actually struggled with the title on this one. S
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I always struggle with titles. I enjoyed the thought and care you put into this poem.
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🙂
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There’s something a little breathless about this poem – it feels like the start of a love affair, the tentative approach, the wondering if something is real or imagined. I like the form, too.
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Thank you Sarah. I see the romantic love reading, I was addressing it to a different relationship than romantic love, but I have veiled it, but there is love involved and I am glad that you saw it. Big elbow bump to you from across the pond 😉
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I like the way you differentiate between letting go and slipping, Lona, especially in the context of a relationship. ‘Weightless grace’ hints at letting go with a slow flutter, which still leaves one breathless.
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Thank you Kim. I am glad you saw that difference, it is at the heart of he poem, and sends up a little flair of forgiveness – both in the giving and receiving. I love your reading, so close to what I was feeling.
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Falling always has that dual quality.
I will have to add your form to my list for trying. Shadorma is always my focusing form. (K)
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Yes, falling has that sense of terror from a loss of control and anticipation as to where you might land. Let me know how it works out when you try the form, I hope you enjoy it!
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I like the dance of the leaves at the end and then fluttering in fall to the earth.
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Thank you Frank 🙂
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Beautiful Lona, almost dreamlike. I like the form as well. Thank you Lona!
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Thank you Linda. I seem to be living out dreams a lot in my poems lately. I appreciate it so much.
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It really carries that feeling, slow, weightless, yet heavy in meaning.
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Thank you Paul! That truly means so much!
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Most welcome Lona.
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Your last stanza seems like an offering, as if to say that separation has its positive sides.
I’m not a fan of structure, but your variation is intriguing.
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Sometimes separation has to happen, at the most basic level even the launching of offspring into the world is a form of necessary positive, at least partial separation. Other types of separation are also necessary, and there can be a grace in recognizing this sometimes perhaps?
And yeah, free verse is my ususal vibe, but I thought this might be fun for a change, to feel the constraint of even a modicum form shape to an extent the feel and the meaning of the piece.
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Love how you made the falling seem desirable… to gently lose control and fall in the breeze sounds so lovely.
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There are ironic aspects here, one person’s drift into freedom may be seen by another as a fall from grace. Which seems ironic becasue if Grace is truly a grace, how can one fall from it? dunno. Thank you my friend, I appreciate it.
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