I created “to wheeze, not gentle” (possibly an homage / rip-off?) of Dylan Thomas’ “Do not go gentle into that dark night”, probably the world’s best-known villanelle. It became to not wheeze gentle and was published in phobiaphobia (Picaro Press, 2007.)

After uploading an audio version to ccMixter, speck made it even more surreal by using a 1970s phonorgan. MORE…

to wheeze, not gentle

to not wheeze gentle

shuddering like hairs of a broken moon

and not patter like leafless winds

or not whine gentle

the melody of sprouting tongue

whispers like plaintive mud

the thirsty cough of a seagull

dry splashes of words reciting fountains

and not crack gentle

the watchful rustle

and wails like smog

words in a halo

my throat screeches halt

like you

my funeral

© rob walker, phobiaphobia, 2007