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A villanelle, a pub, two old friends, and a succession of ‘small’ beers.

Small Beer was written in response to the W3 Poetry prompt #229. It grew out of the simple pleasure of meeting a friend down the pub after we hadn’t seen each other for a while — and supping a few small beers.

Small Beer

A villanelle and pub-song 🍻

Do you fancy another? Mine’s a small beer.
Don’t mind if I do.
It’s great to see you again, after nearly a year.

Cheers, mate, so glad you are here.
Likewise old chum, have a pint or two.
Do you fancy another? Mine’s a small beer.

I don’t think I should drink any more. I’m feeling queer.
But here’s a beer I’ve bought for you.
It’s great to see you again, after nearly a year.

My head’s spinning; I’ve drunk too many, I fear.
But one more for the road should see us through.
Do you fancy another? Mine’s a small beer.

Landlord, serve us another round of beer.
Cheers, mate, that’s generous of you.
It’s great to see you again, after nearly a year.

It’s been a long time since we met up here.
I’d better go; I’ve had a few.
Do you fancy another? Mine’s a small beer.
It’s great to see you again, after nearly a year.


—Lesley Scoble, September 2026

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Audio — Small Beer 🍻

A villanelle pub song

W3 Prompt #229
The uniquely brilliant Matt is Poet of the Week, and he challenged us to write a villanelle about enjoying your favourite beverage, whether alcoholic or not. What’s in your cup? His prompt inspired Small Beer, as you may surmise from my resulting villanelle and pub song.

To read the full guidelines that inspired Small Beer, please click on Matt’s prompt below.

Matt’s prompt: Villanelle

This week, let’s write a villanelle about enjoying your favorite beverage, whether alcoholic or not. What’s in your cup?

Villanelle

The villanelle: two rhymes, two refrains, nineteen lines.

• Structure: Five three-line stanzas, followed by one four-line stanza.
• Rhyme: ABA in each three-line stanza; ABAA in the final stanza.
• Refrains: The first stanza’s first and third lines alternate as the closing lines of stanzas 2–5. Both return, in that order, as the poem’s final two lines.

Pattern: A1 b A2 / a b A1 / a b A2 / a b A1 / a b A2 / a b A1 A2
A1 and A2 are the refrains; matching letters share a rhyme.

Make repetition matter: Each stanza should advance the poem and give its returning refrain fresh significance. Choose plentiful rhymes, let sentences flow across line breaks, and make the final pairing count.

Strict or flexible? Traditional refrains repeat exactly; modern versions may vary their wording and use slant rhyme.

NOTES

Beer Tasting Boards
My featured image shows tasting boards serving three 1/3-pint beers. They’re a great way to sample different beers in small quantities (depending, of course, on how many samples you try!).

Photo©️Lesley Scoble

THANKS

My thanks to Matt for inspiring me to write a villanelle about a favourite tipple of mine.

My gratitude, as always, to David, The Skeptic’s Kaddish, without whom so many poems might never have seen the light of day.

And finally, my thanks to you, the reader, for popping by.

W3 Prompt #229: Wea’ve Written Weekly