Friday, May 29, 2009

A Sonnet - Because Writing Sonnets Is A Pleasure


I recommend the writing of sonnets to anyone and everyone. First, there is the pleasure of the rhyme, then the pleasure of the contained form (in response to its restrictions, unexpected ideas float to the surface) and last but not least the pleasure of the slight turn in the ninth line, where you begin to argue with yourself.....Here's an original sonnet for Poetry Friday, written after a day spent at the University of Washington's Marine Lab out in Friday Harbor, on San Juan Island (see photos above and below of the FHL dock - yes, the ferry boats drift in and out of the harbor, just like the one you see in the distance - and yes, the deer come and drift by the cottages, just like those you see in the foreground....)



OTHER TAXONOMIES

Down to up, small to large, from phyto-
plankton to a starfish to the stars,
from ant to the plant the ant is on, from Fido's
fleas to Fido's loyalties, from stirred
to opened wide, from sighed to sung, dinger
to the brass dong, from winter's had to summer's
have again, from take away to bring,
from pit to fruit, from plum to even plummier,
from thirst to Coke with rum. And then, the sun
goes down, directions shift toward the bottom,
bounce to grief, come to leave, done to undone,
and though you try to move from Class to Phylum
to the Kingdom come, they’ve closed the border:
and you're stuck in Species, and you’re out of Order.



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Poetry Friday is being hosted today over at Irene Latham's Live. Love. Explore!

4 comments:

  1. Your sonnet begs to be read out loud. Loving the pairing of "phyto" with "Fido's"---and the phrase from "plum to even plummier." Why no, I'm not getting older; I'm going from plum to even plummier. :)

    Thanks for the Wallace Stevens insight at my blog. I usually like to absorb a poem in my own good time, but I'd like to hash out that one with kindred minds around a bonfire with some warm drink and fierce conversation.

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  2. Hi Julie - I have been on a sonnet kick for about a month now... although my definition of "sonnet" only requires I keep a poem to 14 lines and 8 syllables a line. Maybe eventually I'll get the meter and rhyme in there??? Thanks for sharing!

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  3. I've come back to Taxonomies 4 times this week for a visit. Each time I smile. King Phillip came over for ginger snaps keeps popping into my head but with a subversive layer of bittersweet chocolate. You sneak in our species and then sneak back and the sounds are just incredible. Thanks Julie.

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  4. I don't know how I missed this last week. I really love it. Going back to read again... and again...

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