One of many

So this will be the first refrain I will be working on;

"Who we are and what we feel,
  has no truth and is not real."

I usually begin a villanelle, (once the refrain is in place) by simply writing out the form of the poem with each repeating line in its rightful place to give myself an idea of how the individual lines fit into the overall shape. I leave out the punctuation to begin with as that can restrict the way the poem progresses.

This is how it would look.

*Who we are and what we feel
*
*has no truth and is not real

*
*
*who we are and what we feel

*
*
*has no truth and is not real

*
*
*who we are and what we feel

*
*
*has no truth and is not real

*
*
*who we are and what we feel
*has no truth and is not real.

After the initial structure of the poem is in place I then have to knit the repetition together, while following the predetermined rhyme scheme of the villanelle, which looks like this.

aba aba aba aba aba abaa.

The most difficult part of this process is choosing a line that fits the idea of the poem with an end rhyme that can be repeated in the middle of each stanza, without being too obvious or simplistic, yet leaving enough scope for an interesting and colourful filling

What I will do is post the various lines I have considered as and when they are written and perhaps explain why I Chose my preferred lines. I hope you can comment on the lines written, and even suggest how they can be improved. I'll try to post a new line each day, and finish the poem within two weeks.