Poem #19: Persephone's Absence

Just like the Fates, Demeter and Persephone also hail from Greek mythology. Demeter is the goddess of the harvest and Persephone, her daughter represents spring. Persephone was very beautiful and her beauty attracted Hades, the god of the underworld. After a series of events involving abduction and a few pomegranate seeds, Persephone is doomed to spend half a year in the underworld. During the six months that Persephone is gone, Demeter mourns her daughter's absence and the earth experiences fall and winter. This poem is about that absence and how Demeter feels when her daughter is away. It is written in the form of a sonnet using a Spenserian rhyming scheme and iambic tetrameter instead of the more traditional pentameter.

Poem #18: I Remain Mortal

This is another poem that I feel needs some work. In fact, I wish I could skip it, but I am committed to posting each poem in its unrevised glory. The poem is based on the idea that the way to immortality, to the fountain of youth, is through having children. Of course, I don't think I am the first person to suggest this connection. I think the concept here is good, but the poem needs to be whittled down and sweetened.

Poem #17: A Duet Interrupted

Of the times I was able to hear my daughter's heartbeat, a couple of them were via a doppler instrument at the doctor's office. The heartbeat is not as clear with this method as with an ultrasound and it can be difficult for them to "find" the baby's heartbeat. Sometimes when they were searching, we could hear my heartbeat instead. Mine was much louder and slower than the baby's quick heartbeat.

After coming home from the hospital, I thought of the connection between our two heartbeats as a kind of duet. Even though the beats were different, they were making music together. With her gone, this connection was severed and my heart went back to singing solo. In this poem, I use some musical terminology that everyone may not understand so I am including a small glossary at the end.
Glossary of Musical Terms

Adagio: slow and restful.
Allegro: lively and fast.
Alto: lowest of the female voices.
Cadence: sequence of chords/sounds that brings an end to a musical phrase or work.
Decrescendo: gradually decreasing in volume.
Duet: music with two voices or instruments.
Finale: movement or passage that concludes the music.
Forte: loud.
Lacrimoso: tearful and sad.
Measure: a rhythmic grouping containing a fixed number of beats. This is the basic unit of measurement for music. In the poem, one measure represents one week.
Pianissimo: very soft.
Rhapsody: an imaginative musical work.
Score: written music that shows all parts.
Solo: music with only one voice or instrument.
Soprano: highest female voice.

Poem #16: Sound Memory

I tried to experiment with a few different types of poetry in the chapbook. This one is my first attempt at a prose poem. I'm not sure if it meets all the requirements or not. Maybe it's just a plain paragraph. Regardless, it is written to my daughter.