30 Poems in 30 Days with 30 Forms
Villanelle – A French Poetic Form
Lots of rhyme and refrain, five tercets and a quatrain, and 8-10 syllable line lengths!
Javelina Villanelle
I’m not a pig! I’m a peccary!
I sniff and snuffle, snort and nap.
Surprise me and I’ll give you heck-ary!
My musky smell is a check-ary
while you’re enjoying a nightcap.
I’m not a pig! I’m a peccary!
To keep me away don’t get tech-ary.
A clap is as good as a trap.
Surprise me and I’ll give you heck-ary!
It’s true: I don’t leave a speck-ary.
When hungry, I eat every scrap.
I’m not a pig! I’m a peccary!
Your flower yard is a wreck-ary?
I’m a roamer, I don’t use a map.
Surprise me and I’ll give you heck-ary!
I prefer arroyos to deck-ary.
I’d pick desert food in a snap.
I’m not a pig! I’m a peccary!
Surprise me and I’ll give you heck-ary!
©draft, Patricia J. Franz
This is a javelina. Pretty, huh?
Here’s everything I know about them,
having had a run in or two the past 30+ years:
- You smell them before you see them.
- They likely don’t see you – they don’t have great eyesight.
- So if you surprise them, AND if they have babies, get out of their way!
- And a lot of the time, they travel with all their aunts and uncles and cousins!
- They will eat EVERYTHING in your yard and they especially love pumpkins on the porch at Halloween.
- And, they are not pigs. They are collared peccaries.
Patricia Franz is a kidlit writer and published poet. She believes children, dogs, and sourdough have a lot to teach us about life, joy, and wonder. She has raised two boys, four dogs, and holds a master’s degree in Theology with a focus on children’s spirituality. Patricia, her husband, her Bernese Mountain dog, Bonny, and her sourdough starter split their time between the Arizona desert and the Sierra Nevada mountains. 
Patricia, thanks for introducing me to the Villanelle form. I’m thankful for your witty poem and grateful that these hungry animals live elsewhere in the world and not in my vicinity. 💬