The Tennessee Floods (Villanelle)
Poet Mel Buckingham from Nashville sets her memories of the 2010 Cumberland River floods to the strict rhyme scheme of the villanelle.
There’s something overflowing in my brain
Past friends and lovers living there rent-free
What a lovely day to celebrate my pain
People tend to think I’ve gone insane
And honestly, I can’t much disagree
There’s something overflowing in my brain
Pop the cork and pour out the champagne
On your parents’ porch in Tennessee
What a lovely day to celebrate my pain
We all recall the never-ending rain
The flood that drowned Bellevue’s library
There’s something overflowing in my brain
You swim to her like water down a drain
But I remember you once swam to me
What a lovely day to celebrate my pain
Your fingerprints still on my skin like a stain
I’m a fallen leaf to your redwood tree
There’s something overflowing in my brain
What a lovely day to celebrate my pain