Grandma so loved to bake

One of the great benefits of the creative writing course I’m taking is the opportunity to produce work in different styles and formats to those I would normally use.

In a recent session we looked at writing a villanelle poem. If you’re anything like me a villanelle will be a completely new concept so I’ll briefly try to explain how it works. It consists of six stanzas, the first five being made up of three lines with the sixth containing four. The first and third lines of the first stanza must rhyme and these are then used alternately as the final lines of stanzas two to five. The first line of stanzas two to five should end with a word that rhymes with the final word of line three. The final stanza finishes with lines one and three from the first and the opening line must rhyme with these. One last twist is that the second line in all stanzas needs to rhyme.

If that’s left you baffled hopefully my villanelle below will help to explain how it works.

Grandma so loved to bake.

Feeding others, sharing her food.

To this day I still taste her cake.

From the moment that she came awake.

It’s the kitchen where I see her stood.

Grandma so loved to bake.

One of life’s givers, never take.

Always the gentlest of mood.

To this day I still taste her cake.

Some memories can make you ache.

These fill me with gratitude.

Grandma so loved to bake.

She always knew just what to make.

To her grandson it all tasted good.

To this day I still taste her cake.

I bake now, following her wake.

Trying to make things taste the way she would.

Grandma so loved to bake.

To this day I still taste her cake.

The idea to write about my Grandma came from a longer piece that I’m working on concerning childhood memories and I’ll share it with you in a later post. The photo is a rather glamorous shot of his mother in her younger days that my dad has on his wall.