MHenry – If You Haven't Got A Sonnet

From crush and sea
back up to lip
I watch for thee
And thy great ship
Where flying failed
while thee yet whaled
Harpoon too soon

The leap reversed
The boy won't think
Maybe 'tis cursed
but yet won't sink
And still ye sail
after the whale
Search out for spout

Twig fingers at
the window sill
an old wharf rat
awaiting still
the boys that sail
after the whale
How fast now past

© Stephen W. Buchanan 2016. Grant Hayes lines used used with permission from the author.

An extra post on a Tuesday because today (23 May 2023) is the seventh anniversary of the invention of the ha’sonnet form created by Grant Hayes and Michael “MHenry” H. Lester in RhymeZone poetry forum in 2016. This poem was the first ha’sonnet string and came out of the lines of the non-rhyming ha’sonnet “From crush and sea (Ha’sonnet?)” by Grant Hayes (that unfortunately he has since deleted). In the comments about his poem Grant said he would have to work on rhyming, which I saw as a challenge and wrote this, using the seven lines of his ha’sonnet. Because he deleted his poem I’m not 100% sure which seven lines were originally his and where they are in my poem. Enjoy!

Published advertising free at “If You Haven’t Got A Sonnet”

Hey! My daughter Bee has an Etsy site for “Hand sewn decorative items” – RaccoonStitches! Please check it out!

The ha'sonnet
is not that old
Not standard yet
still new and bold
May of sixteen
the first was seen
A light, tight write

Twas MHenry
and the Grant Hayes
who helped it see
the light of days
It was homegrown
in the RhymeZone
New form brainstorm

The form defines
a simple core
of seven lines
with beats of four
A little twist
and end exist
With rhyme sometime

(C) Stephen W. Buchanan 2017