[writing] NaPoWriMo: Lover’s Chain Step 10, Decalet

Had to take a couple days off for health reasons, but I'm back with the next step of the Lover's Chain. Still following Seanan McGuire's Lover's Chain tutorial. The tenth step is the decalet, which at first glance looks like hell in poem form. I am writing a love poem to a monstrous final girl.

The decalet is a ten line poem made up of two five-line stanzas. It has both internal and external rhyme schemes (WHAT?!), and is a counted syllable poem, ten syllables per line. I'm ready to throw up my hands and quit. This was not the poem to come back to after a break.

The external rhyme scheme is ABCDE EDCBA, and the internal rhyme scheme is EDCBA ABCDE. (WHAT WHAT?!) Yeah, okay, I am terrified.

A = blood, buds, flood (mud, flood, bud)
B = kiss, hiss, remiss (hiss, miss, dis, bliss, amiss, abyss, remiss)
C = bright, light, quite, right (bite, might, fight, sleight, quite, right)
D = mine, treeline, fine (fine, design, align, line, nine, dine, wine)
E = death, breath

1EA My bringer of death, dressed in tulle and blood,
2DB touched your lips to mine, peace in your sweet kiss.
3CC The moon, full and bright -- we bathed in its light,
4BD ignored the soft hiss, wind through the treeline,
5AE and the pale white buds floating on a breath.

6AE Remember my flood of fear for you, Beth--
7BD no, that'd be remiss -- fear of you is fine
8CC when you are not quite the girl I loved right
9DB off. Our hands align, return back from the abyss,
10EA of my fear of death buried in the mud.

Dear god, that's a hell of a form poem. That last line isn't working for me; I'm running short on the "eath" rhyme, and I think I'm going to have to force a rhyme there, because the repetition of death isn't working for me, even though I'm trying to tie it into her fear of Beth, the final girl, the killer, the salvation.

6AE Remember the mud of fear for you, Beth--

10EA my fear, dying 'neath the trees in the mud.

Lover’s Chain

1
The moon rises, bright and full, and with it comes peace.

2
Bloody, bruised, you escape death;
Come, darling, rest, catch your breath.

3
You wore a dress I love, bell skirt swinging;
we danced beneath the bright moonlight.
Kiss me, you said, and I obeyed — left us breathless, joyful, clinging.

4
Behind us, woods, empty and dark.
Silent, but for the crunch of broken leaves.
“Wait,” I said, chilled and leery.
You kissed me, you smiled — I’ll be right back.

5
I shiver, cold damp air on bare skin,
branches tremble in the wind, drop leaves.
It crashes through the brush nearby, big, furred — my breath goes thin.
Branches tremble in the wind, drop leaves.
I shiver, cold damp air on bare skin.

6
I froze, terrified, face to face with a beast.
It opened its long muzzle wide, flashed sharp, shiny teeth.
You were safe, my love, I thought, at least, at least.

Then you appeared, one hand on my arm, dragging me away beneath
the lowest branches, silver at your fingers, brow creased.
My hero, but you left me, fear holding me still, in the broken heath.

7
You ran, dress red-black as blood in the moonlight.
Darted through brush, over fallen branches,
until the monster, heavy, furred, rose on its haunches,
and you leaped, silver knife carving the night.

You ran, dress red-black as blood in the moonlight,
straight into the monster’s reach.
Knife flashed, blood, and with a howl-like scream, it launched into the fight.

8

Teeth, claws, weight — it tore into you, until
you stood above the fallen monster, bloody and free-
falling backward, knife, tangled hair, fallen and still.
Teeth, claws, weight — it tore into you, until
you punched up, knife flashing, fisted, iron-will
stronger than I’d ever seen, my gorgeous girl, wild, gutsy.
Teeth, claws, weight, it tore into you until
you stood above the fallen monster, bloody and free.

9

I am not the damsel in distress;
you are no shining armor knight.
You came to me, blood-soaked, and I confess
in that moment under the pale moon light

I was scared.

Your lip curled, flashed teeth, that grin.
I gathered myself, reached out
and you settled into my arms, warm as sin,
Touching you, I almost forgot my doubt.

10

My bringer of death, dressed in tulle and blood,
touched your lips to mine, peace in your sweet kiss.
The moon, full and bright -- we bathed in its light,
ignored the soft hiss, wind through the treeline,
and the pale white buds floating on a breath.

Remember, like mud, my fear for you, Beth --
no, that'd be remiss -- fear of you is fine
when you are not quite the girl I loved right
off. Our hands align, back from the abyss,
and I see your wealth, strength like a flood.