After lunch one weekend I reclined on the sofa with my three favourite feline friends nearby and wrote this quartet of Rondelet poems. The Rondelet is a French form consisting of a single septet with two rhymes and one refrain: AbAabbA. The capital letters are the refrains, or repeats. The refrain is written in tetra-syllabic or dimeter and the other lines are twice as long – octasyllabic or tetrameter.

Rogue Romance Rondelet

Tumultuous

The thrusts and unexpected turns

Tumultuous

Uplifting and ridiculous

How many times must one be burned?

Rejected, wanted, loved and spurned

Tumultuous

The Little Things

The little things

New catkins grow upon Spring trees

The little things

Relief that Friday Riesling brings

My cheeks stroked by the fresh sea breeze

A between-mealtime chunk of cheese

The little things

Soul Sculptor

He moulded me

I was but putty in his hands

He moulded me

and how our parting…