Wednesday, 29 July 2026

XLII Unroyal Rhyme. The Bell, Hillgrove Street, 10 April 2026.

 

The sonnet below is a recent addition to my ongoing accumulation the Odes, Epigrams & Further Sonnets. Its title derives from its being a variant - some might call it a corruption - of a Chaucerian sonnet. A Chaucerian sonnet consists in a pair of Rhyme Royal, the latter being the seven line stanza used by Chaucer in Troilus & Criseyde and The Parliament of Fowles. Rhyme Royal has an ababbcc rhyme scheme, whereas the two stanzas composing my sonnet have an ababcbc rhyme scheme.

A couple of days after writing my sonnet, I prevailed upon AI to set it to music in the style of the Lacrymosa from Mozart's Requiem in D Minor, with I think surprisingly successful results.

XLII

Unroyal Rhyme

The Bell, Hillgrove Street, 10 April 2026

What barbarism’s this? What unfresh Hell?

Hot pants, obese, vermillion pillbox fez:

The Look-At-Me is clanging in The Bell.

He’s Sexy Lexy now; his deadname’s “Les”.

His pancake makeup shadows eight hours’ beard

And crinkles like cheap concrete as he yells.

He isn’t even queer, he’s simply weird,

His ring-encrusted digits hoist his drink:

Red Stripe or Amstel? Lager anyway.

False eyelash flutters caterpillar wink,

Ear-splitting laughter, desperately gay.

He rises, plants upon the floor huge feet,

And sashays out, ambassador of kink,

And in the ladies widdles on the seat.





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XLII Unroyal Rhyme. The Bell, Hillgrove Street, 10 April 2026.

  The sonnet below is a recent addition to my ongoing accumulation the Odes, Epigrams & Further Sonnets. Its title derives from its...