Shhhh!

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Shhhh!

~

are you going with me to the coast
if so we will be leaving at first light
the need to be on time is uppermost
I want to be there settled in tonight

the party promises to be a blast
crazy friends drinks and food of ev’ry kind
these soirees have been epic in the past
if we are late we will be left behind

tomorrow it is breakfast on the beach
it’s there we meet our hostess for the week
she’ll have the masks we’ll need there’s one for each
remember after that we do not speak

then to the yacht where wondrous games are played
magic – this high seas silent masquerade

~ ~ ~

rob kistner © 2019

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  • Click below for more sonnetts at dVerse…
    Poetry Forms – The sonnet

  • 36 thoughts on “Shhhh!”

      1. I am glad you found this intriguing Mish. I have always enjoyed stirring intrigue in others.
        Thank you for visiting and reading. Happy New Year to you, may 2019 bring you joy and peace.

    1. This reminded me a little of carnival in Venice, where my husband and I spent our 25th anniversary last year. I love their carnival masks and have one hanging on my bookcase, one I brought back from a previous visit. Very mysterious that reminder that ‘we do not speak’ and it’s a ‘high seas silent masquerade’ – no easy escape then!

      1. Congratulations on 25 years Kim! I love masks and the mystery they represent. Glad you enjoyed the mystery in this one. I have no idea where this came from. I am not naturally drawn to poems of form, and after reading Bjorn’s prompt, I was stuck. After about 3 hours the first line came to me, and the rest assembled itself over the next couple hours. Mysteriously, after finishing the write I was looking for an image to support the poem and found thst notice about the masquerade on the yacht. Blew my old man’s mind. Happy New Year Kim, to you and yours!

      1. Hi Bjorn, Happy New Year! I am not drawn to writing poems of form, that was one reason I decided to begin revisiting dVerse, once my health allowed me to write again. I wanted to force myself to embrace poetic forms from time to time again. Thank you for helping push me to the sonnet, or at least my interpretation of it. This poem took a number of hours to finally come together. It finally began with the first line manifesting for me, and took me on this strange little trip. Mysteriously, I found the accompanying image after the poem was finished – serendipity! 🙂

      1. Glad you enjoyed the idea here Mary! Thank you for visiting and commenting. I love small boats as I enjoy fishing, fresh water only – no ocean. However, I am uncomfortable on big boats, especially ones I am not steering. Living in Seattle, one needs to ride big ferry boats all over the Puget Sound, if one wishes to get around. I have learned to be more comfortable on them, but I have no desire to go on an ocean liner. I wouldn’t enjoy the sensation of feeling “trapped”, unable to leave at will, so I understand. Happy New Year to you and your. May 2019 bring you joy and peace!

      1. Glad you enjoyed it Linda… 🙂 I may have subconsciously found part of my inspiration in that movie. I also love masks! I have written a number of pieces over the years that incorporate masks, even as the primary focus. Strange as it may seem, after finishing the poem, I found the image that supports it. I always incorporate an image with my poems, either of my own creation or something appropriate. This one was serendipitous. Happy New Year linda, to you and yours… 🙂

    2. Loved this one, brother–modern sonnets rule. It kind of came off cosmopolitan, since such posh goings on don’t happen in most of our spheres. But I saw Audrey Hepburn, Lauren Bacall, David Niven and James Mason behind several masks. I love writing with you after so many years. Let’s hope 2019 is “healthy” for both of us.

      1. I have no idea where the hell this came from. I am not drawn to poems of form, but I’ll have at ’em sometimes. I was letting my mind wander when that first line popped into it, and I love the mysterious sexual nature of masquerade, and this piece fell out of my perverted mind. Who the fuck knows?! Thanks for continuing to visit and comment. I stopped by your site with my wishes for ya!

    3. there’s this very 1920’s feel about the sonnet you write and I love it, especially the no speaking after we don our masks, the silence creates the mystery more than what the eyes cannot see. there’s romance in the air from the very start of the quartet, loved this very much!

    4. Nicely done, Rob! I imagine a whole story from this, but I don’t think it ends well. (Do you write short stories?) Something about a bunch of strangers in masks seems really creepy to me. I think of the masked ball in Sweeney Todd, or something like that.
      Breakfast on the beach sounds lovely though!

      1. Glad you liked this Merril. I’d written in previous comments that I really have no idea where the “plot” of this “sonnet-esue” piece came from. It germinated once I had uncovered that very first line, in pursuit of Bjorn’s sonnet prompt. I love the mysterious sensuality of masks, and silence as well for me. I think somewhere in my subconscious Kubrick’s “Eyes Wide Shut” must have been lurking. I love Nicole Kidman. Her new movie “Destroyer” promises to be her ‘Tour de Force’. Anyway, yes, I do write short stories from time to time, as well as long-form, plot-based, free verse – like my free verse about Dracula entitled “Castle Wallachia”, or my space odessey free verse entitled “Distant Farewell”, among others. I do enjoy writing longer pieces, but it is hard to maintain my attention span before a shorter free verse piece manifests intself. Each of my short stories began as attempts at novels, but I became bored. I have a number of plot ideas for novels in various stages of “beginning”. Maybe, before I exit space ship earth, one may sustain to completion as a novel. More likely, they will end up a short story (flash fiction), or long-form free verse. Sorry for my long-form answer Merril… 😉

    5. An intriguing sonnet. Not your usual, “here we go channeling the Bard” folderol (hope I spelled that right; just added it to my dictionary). You made it look effortless.

    6. I have to admit, Rob, that I read this sonnet several days ago but just as I about to comment, life interrupted (I think it was the oven timer/dinner). The beauty of it all is that I kept thinking about this poem, which is the sign of good writing. This has a delightful charm and cleverness about it! I really enjoy your use of the second person narrative; very unique!

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