The Sonnet Is a Tricky Thing To Write

The sonnet is a tricky thing to write. Quatrains, exactly three, must come before A pair, a couplet, rhyming nice and tight: A rave of fourteen lines, no less, no more. True, limericks and haikus, although brief, Present linguistic challenges as well. Nantucket does not bring comic relief; Five/seven/five at times can feel like hell. Yet nobler is the sonnet’s higher norm; The quatrains each pack meaning of their own, Preserving all the while iambic form, And forcing would-be writers skills to hone. The words are calling, lovely, dark, and deep; Alas, the bard could write these in his sleep!