Poem 13: Ghazal

I've always liked/disliked this form. It's deceptively difficult -- at first it might seem like a snap to generate couplets randomly, but somehow the form needs to cohere ... and mine never do, really.

Here's the prompt:

Today’s is an oldie-but-a-goody: the ghazal. The form was originally developed in Arabic and Persian poetry, but has become increasingly used in English, after being popularized by poets including Agha Shahid Ali. A ghazal is formed of couplets, each of which is its own complete statement. Both lines of the first couplet end with the same phrase or end-word, and that end-word is also repeated at the end of each couplet. If you’re really feeling inspired, you can also attempt to incorporate internal rhymes and a reference to your own name in the final couplet.

Q: Am I "really feeling inspired"? Doubtful. It's Holy Thursday, and this is what's outside my window:

Yeah. Bleah.

*

Ghazal for April 13th

Outside my window, gray clouds and damp cold press down
on budding trees -- we are all pressed down now.

Call it "the greenhouse effect" -- dig up fossil fuels,
burn them, let CO2 hover over us and press heat down.

I woke this morning hemmed in by cats at head and feet,
hot bodies like anchors on me, pressing me down.

This is how you leave home: fasten your belt, adjust
the mirrors, turn the key, put it in drive, press down on the gas.

It's a time of transition. Even as Spring is only beginning,
students look to the summer, their futures pressing down.

May all beings be happy. May all beings be free. May all
beings be safe. May all beings be well. (All beings press me down.)

I used to draw Jesus cross-eyed, confused by his own nose,
and I pressed hard on the paper with the colored pencils.