A fairly bad villanelle

As I mentioned in the last locked-down post, I actually wrote a good poem last weekend. It was about a girl who needs a name... and I'm naming her now, Nycotine. This is not that poem! This is me randomly deciding to write a villanelle tonight, quickly and badly, using my favorite Anne Carson line as one of the repeaters and using some of the same themes as the good poem. I have to admit this was a fun exercise.


One drop of water entirely awake
in a flood of eight million, rising slow,
I want to kiss you, my lovely mistake.

Nothing to prove, no claim to stake,
Slide through the gutter, drawn by the flow,
one drop of water entirely awake.

Once I thought give, now I think take
not opposites as it seemed long ago:
I want to kiss you, my lovely mistake.

The sea, a puddle, a stream, a lake?
We could spend decades aching to know
one drop of water. Entirely awake,

wanting to taste for adventure's sake.
Ask me to stay or tell me to go:
I want to kiss you, my lovely mistake.

It seems the whole city is starting to shake
It's too late to escape from your glow
One drop of water entirely awake --
I want to kiss you, my lovely mistake.