Welcome to Morgen’s Online Poetry Writing Group and the second poem on this blog. This piece is a Petriacan Sonnet by multi-genre author Salvatore Buttaci. You’ll also be able to find this poem within the Sonnet section.
Please do comment in the section below telling us what you liked about this poem and, what if anything, the author could do to improve upon it. Thank you, it’s very much appreciated!
Punchinello
On stage tonight attired in white suit
and mask of black to hide a lengthy nose,
Punchinello appears in classic pose.
With white-gloved hand the comic strums a lute
to thunderous applause. He bows: a brute
who masquerades a gentleman whose foes
are few. They see façades, just what he shows,
not the tormented fool riddled with woes,
but friendly comic Mr. Punch whose beak
elicits belly laughs, guffaws galore.
The stick with which he whacks those on the stage
is hardly humor. A second encore
brings him back. He bows and we say, “How sleek!”
as if Punch alone dons masks to hide rage.
***
Thank you, Salvatore. It’s very clever how you fit the rhyme yet not make it obvious.
Salvatore Buttaci is an obsessive-compulsive writer whose work has appeared widely. He was the 2007 recipient of the $500 Cyber-wit Poetry Award. His poems, stories, articles, and letters have appeared widely in publications that include New York Times,
U. S. A. Today, The Writer, Writer’s Digest, Cats Magazine, The National Enquirer, Christian Science Monitor, Poetic Bloomings, and A Word with You Press. He was an English instructor at a local community college and middle-school teacher in New Jersey before he retired in 2007 to commit himself to full-time writing.
Flashing My Shorts and 200 Shorts, published by All Things That Matter Press, are available in book and Kindle editions at http://www.kindlegraph.com/authors/sambpoet
His two chapbooks: Boy on a Swing… http://www.thechapbookstore.com/buttaciexcerpts.html
And What I Learned from the Spaniard… http://www.amazon.com/What-Learned-Spaniard-Other-Poems/dp/B004W5859C
His new book, If Roosters Don’t Crow, It Is Still Morning: Haiku and Other Poems (Cyber-Wit Publications) is available at http://www.amazon.com/roosters-dont-crow-still-morning/dp/8182532698
A great seller since 1998, his book A Family of Sicilians is available at http://www.lulu.com/spotlight/ButtaciPublishing2008
He lives with his wife Sharon in West Virginia.
***
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This sonnet is great, the flow and the story . Well done! Punchinello ( a character from the commedia dell’arte) is the namegiver to Punch as in Punch and Judy I think.
Yes, Ina, the same Punchinello! Thanks for your kind comments.
What a brilliantly written sonnet, the structure is amazing and I love the flow of the piece. Inspirational, I want to write a patriacan sonnet.
Sonnets, Zac, are fun to write because one needs to conform to the rules, which makes writing them quite challenging.
It is good to see a reverence for the classic poetic forms. One could quibble about whether Mr. Butacci’s sonnet meets all the requirements but it is a fine example none the less.
I would change the last line to read, “as if clowns alone don masks to hide their rage.”
Nice job, Sal.
Thank you, Harris, for your suggestion. Just what this site is after.
Thanks, Harris. While the sonnet need not be written totally iambic pentameter, I was trying to at least maintain the five feet measure per line. However, your final line sounds better than mine!
I find this a very fine sonnet — um, the word is “petrarchan” sonnet . . .
you make the lines flow without effort, yet the rhymes apply and you end up with what is an expert’s hand at a difficult poetic form
Yes, Jean, after the Italian poet Petrarca, who wrote sonnets.
Thank you very much everyone for your comments. It’s great to see you here and I look forward to posting more poems…
Thanks, Morgen, for this helpful site.
You’re very welcome, Salvatore. I look forward to hosting you again.