BP: Villanelle Villains #1

[Tom Russell]

Tim Munn wrote:

> Story and Character copyright 6/5/06 9:08 p.m. by Tim Munn

Always very thorough there, Tim, heh?

>
> Author's Notes:  I'd first like to thank Tom Russell for his thoughts
> on this tale, and to improving future stories of Villanelle Villains.
> I originally wrote this after reading Haiku Gorilla.  I'm not that much
> of a fan of the haiku, but I could easily enjoy Haiku Gorilla.

Thanks. :-)

> I've been itching to post something again, since posting Scenes In the
> Life of Possible Man #4 back in December.  (I wanted to post something
> this year ;)  I'm not entirely sure right now (since this is only the
> second villanelle I've ever written), but there could probably be more
> tales in villanelle form of villainous villains.  Heck, maybe a few
> heroes.  We'll climb that mountain when we get there, wont we?

The comments I gave Tim in private email ran something like my comments
now: the poem has its amusing moments

> Having reached near-desirable height in all levels, Belle made sure her

and its poignant ones

> name would live on in fame.
> Belle removed the belt that gave her powers, leaping from the BarCo
> Building, too late to be caught.

but I think the repeating nature of the form

> Belle was her name;
> All she wanted to do was play a little game.

works against narrative: any kind of punchline in a humourous poem is
undercut by the final two lines of any villanelle; and any narrative
drive would be interrupted by the repeating

> Belle was her name;
> All she wanted to do was play a little game.

lines.  But, I found when read aloud, it _does_ produce a terrific
rhythm effect, which reminds me (strangely enough) of the "music"
passages in Aeneas and Ferris.  Just as I've gotten better at
delivering some of the traditional pleasures of fiction through haiku
form, I think Tim will get better using the villanelle form.  As it is,
the repitition of the last two lines after Belle's suicide

> Having reached near-desirable height in all levels, Belle made sure her
> name would live on in fame.
> Belle removed the belt that gave her powers, leaping from the BarCo
> Building, too late to be caught.
> Belle was her name;
> All she wanted to do was play a little game.

_does_ allow it to serve as a sort of grim "punch line"; that is, the
emphasis in these two lines

> Belle was her name;
> All she wanted to do was play a little game.

is placed on the past tense in use.  It's only once we reach the end of
the poem that we realize that we speak of the dead.

And, I must say, it's certainly a step in the right direction.  I wish
young Mr. Munn luck in taming this form to his needs.

And be on the look-out for the next issue of Haiku Gorilla; our
lovelorn young friend has given us further information about the woman
on whom he has set his heart, and has done so, strangely enough, in the
form of a villanelle.

--Tom