A poet friend spoke of a poetic form called a ghazal <br />and said, why don’t you try to write a poem like a ghazal? <br /> <br />They’ve been revived in recent years in English, in fact <br />there’s even a periodical devoted to the ghazal… <br /> <br />and you’re rather keen on that mystical poetry stuff? <br />and love and such? Why don’t you try the ghazal? <br /> <br />My usual reaction to suggestions like that is, no.. <br />but I googled Wikipedia out of curiosity, on ghazal <br /> <br />which told me everything about it except <br />why anyone should choose to write a ghazal.. <br /> <br />which as you see, is such a restrictive poetic form.. <br />And then I found a passing mention about the word ghazal <br /> <br />it said that the name came from the cry of the gazelle… <br />and that, told me more than anything about the ghazal… <br /> <br />since a gazelle, like any animal, bereft of the power of speech <br />and thus of poetry, is the very essence of the ghazal <br /> <br />in that, whether from pain, from danger, from love <br />- or visited by God - cries the same cry of the gazelle – the ghazal; <br /> <br />as poets, seeking to express the inexpressible, are as limited <br />in their success, as crying animals, in their way – the ghazal <br /> <br />may thus be seen as every poem that ever poet wrote; <br />crying within itself, one cry alone...So the ghazal <br /> <br />must choose the human word for its repeated call <br />with care... ah! yearning heart! ... for One or All! ... Ghazal!<br /><br />Michael Shepherd<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/0008-a-ghazal-about-ghazals/
