Today’s device from The Poet’s Dictionary: A Handbook of Prosody and Poetic Devices, by William Packard, is

Idyl [not to be confused with Idyll … or idle … or Idol, for that matter]:  Any pastoral poem, rustic and bucolic, such as an ECLOGUE.  From the Greek, meaning “little picture,” an idyl is usually a short poem showing the joys of rural nature.

Well, Packard lost me when I read the words “short poem.”  I don’t tend to write many of those.  I will offer today a poem from my chapbook, String Quilt, as an idyl.  An earlier version of this poem was originally published in Crucible.  Thanks, as always, for reading! Continue reading “April 13 Poem: American Idyl (clemency, please)” →