A Villanelle to Oxford Skullduggery

A Villanelle to Oxford Skullduggery

The question of a rivalry was quaint
It simply felt like what she had to do
It was the day to bring about a taint

She chose a writer up for laureate
In ivy covered walls of golden hue
The question of a rivalry was quaint

God makes a better poet than a saint
She liked to think her constancy was true
It was the day to bring about a taint

So Oxford picked a woman for the grant
And now they're back to Poet Number #2
The question of a rivalry was quaint

She only said the other candidate
Had indulged in behavior fairly blue
It was the day to bring about a taint

Reporters grasped at emails that she sent
Eventually one asked if it was true
The question of a rivalry was quaint
It was the day to bring about a taint

* * *

The Backstory

* With apologies to every proper Villanelle ever written. It's one hell of a lovely 1800s English rhyme based on a French form loved by W. H. Auden, Theodore Roethke, Sylvia Plath, Robert Frost and Elizabeth Bishop. After they found such beautiful words for a rotten old world, I'm relieved that most of my poems washed away.