English 352: Forms of Poetry Rondeau Contest Runner-Up

Dirty Hands

With dirty hands, you pass it on,
The money that you've worked for, gone.
The products lined on every shelf,
Calling out, “Take this for yourself!”
Companies use you as their pawn,

Claiming that it's never a con,
Pulling you in with some icon,
Into the stores you delve
With dirty hands.

They tell you things, an illusion
Of large words in flashing neon.
You let them add to all their wealth,
And line their pockets with no stealth
To climb up in the echelon,
With dirty hands.

Bobbi Evans

BIO: Bobbi Evans is currently an undergraduate student at Southern Illinois University in Carbondale, Illinois.

English 352: Forms of Poetry Rondeau Contest Runner-Up

The Votes are In

The votes are in. The tension high,
All are eager to know which guy;
The one on the left? The one on the right?
This is what we do to avoid a fight
While CEOs leave the needy out to dry.

Seemingly, normal: we all stride by
While looking for answers to fall from the sky.
We flip a coin based on four years hind-sight.
The votes are in.

All the while, a voter asks why
For control of the nation, only two can even try?
And when the votes are in, and to no delight
We erect another scarecrow whoʼs probably white.
And then weʼll swim in seas of lies.
The votes are in.

Sam Weber

BIO: Sam Weber is a student studying English and Film at Southern Illinois University (Carbondale, Illinois).

English 352: Forms of Poetry Rondeau Contest Winner

Sounds of the City

I sleep in silence that creaks and moans
from upstairs neighbors' ringing telephones
and outside I hear the day grow
as garbage trucks begin to roll
and the trains quaking trussels groan.

Sleep will escape since I do not own
earplugs or CDs where wilderness roams.
I do not live where the west winds blow,
I sleep in silence.

Outside, lost lovers try to atone
for past sins and the stench of cologne.
Yet, in my dreams, no noise below,
the dirt street painted white with snow.
Here I find peace of my own,
I sleep in silence.

Rheanna Pulley

BIO: Rheanna Pulley is currently a English Major with Creative Writing Concentration at Southern Illinois University in Carbondale, Illinois.

Back from the Dead Again!!! Rondeaus Don't Die; They Multiply!

Dear Readers:
Another year, another re-launch for the Rondeau Roundup Blog! Glad to be back for Spring 2012!

Very soon, I will be posting the results of the English 352: Forms of Poetry Rondeau Challenge. Every time I teach a forms of poetry class, I challenge my students to write and perform a rondeau in front of the class. This year's winners will be posted here on the blog!

Until then, here's a shameless (or shameful, depending on your point of view) rondeau modeled off of Paul Laurence Dunbar's famous rondeau "We Wear the Mask," with a nod to that great contemporary poet, Chris Rock:


Clear Heels: A Rondeau

We wear the heels that hurt our feet,
spray on perfume that’s extra sweet,
buy clothes that make the boys all stare—
rock booty shorts, and dye our hair,
all of our gear low, tight, and neat.

Attracting men? We can’t be beat;
all ugly girls we will defeat.
We never said that life was fair.
We wear the shoes

that make your boyfriends want to cheat
on you. Be careful we don’t meet
or else they’ll fall in love. We swear
we’ll have them drooling, if you dare.
God made us fly, so cute, petite.
We wear the shoes.


Allison Joseph

West Chester Spotlight: Chris Bullard

The following rondeau is by Chris Bullard, who is in my "Rondeaus, Rondels, and Ballades" workshop at the West Chester Poetry Conference:


Inter regnum

The grass is green, its vigor so intense
And overwhelming that we blink against
That forces. Spring occurs, again. We have come
With eyes dimmed by the indoor tedium
And with ears muffled by the long silence,

But with hope we might receive recompense
From months of snow, in the benevolence
Of warm weather. Instead we shiver from
The grass so green.

So blessings may conceal old punishments
And growth give color to a new absence.
We're the subjects of an icy kingdom
Abating now, in this inter regnum,
To show that on the graves of our parents
The grass is green.


Bio: Chris Bullard is an administrative law judge from Collingswood, New Jersey.

Back from the Dead: the Rondeau Roundup!

Dear Readers:

The Rondeau Roundup is back!

I'm currently at the West Chester Poetry Conference on Form and Narrative, teaching a workshop on "Rondeaus, Rondels, and Ballades." It's an opportune time to declare this blog/magazine functional again!

I'll be posting poems from the Workshop and catching up on the mail that has been sent to this blog's e-mail account.

I apologize for the long delay--the roundup fell by wayside, but with the help of my West Chester workshop, I hope to post new examples of the form(s) this blog is dedicated to!

Blessings,
Allison Joseph, Rondeau Mistress

Relaunch: The Rondeau Roundup's Variations on a Theme from Shakespeare Contest

The Rondeau Roundup is back! Apologies for the delay in, well, everything!

The Paul Laurence Dunbar Award did not yield enough entries to declare a winner, so I've asked the entrants to allow me to post all the poems that were entered. I will relaunch this contest in the future, but details of our current contest are below:

"Variations on a Theme from Shakespeare" Rondeau Contest: No Entry Fee!

The Rondeau Roundup blog is having a contest for the best rondeau inspired by the works of William Shakespeare!
Deadline: submitted by October 2, 2010.

Contest Rules:

Only one rondeau may be submitted per person. No entry fee. Top five rondeaus will be published on the blog (therondeauroundup.blogspot.com). The first place rondeau will also receive a $50 gift card from Barnes and Noble.

For this contest, I'm looking for rondeaus that follow the standard definition, as given on poets.org

"The rondeau’s form is not difficult to recognize: as it is known and practiced today, it is composed of fifteen lines, eight to ten syllables each, divided stanzaically into a quintet, a quatrain, and a sestet. The rentrement consists of the first few words or the entire first line of the first stanza, and it recurs as the last line of both the second and third stanzas. Two rhymes guide the music of the rondeau, whose rhyme scheme is as follows (R representing the refrain): aabba aabR aabbaR."

Examples of the form: "In Flanders Fields" by John McCrae, "We Wear the Mask" by Paul Laurence Dunbar.

No other poetic form will be accepted for this contest. Non-rhyming rondeaus can be entered, but the blog moderator's preference is for rhymed and metered rondeaus.

To enter, send a single rondeau inspired by the works of William Shakespeare to

rondeauroundup(at)gmail.com (replace (at) with @) by October 2, 2010.

Winners will be announced on the Rondeau Roundup Blog on October 15, 2010.