Outtake: Mindless

While working on Refraction Cycle, I wanted to include a variety of free-form and fixed-form poems, and while the rules of things like the Spenserian sonnet are second nature, things like the pantoum and villanelle took some practice. I’ve also learned that practicing and experimenting with the actual material I intend for the poem is what experts in the field call a bad idea, until I’m ready to compose the final version. That meant I ended up with a lot of fun and frivolous pieces while I familiarized myself with the form and rhyme. All of these poems, of course, went into the vault in case they ever served a function. “Mindless” is one of the Refraction Cycle outtakes while I was getting comfortable with the pantoum, and in the middle of a Real Housewives marathon.