Oops! All Sonnets
Ten sweetened corn and oat poems
Welcome, and a warm first hello to the newcomers!
I’m so happy you’re here.
Usually, a tarot card is the center of focus for these posts. This week, it’s not a card but a form: the sonnet. Lately, I’ve been finding my usual haiku style a little compact for the memories I want to share. I always thought Shakespearean sonnets were cool, so here we are.
Read on for ten sonnets about my life.
Contents:
Hot Girl
The Loving Ground
Summer Romance
Write or Die
Understandable, But Wrong
Crêpe Date
Noticing in the Square
The Water in the Well
Straight Men Will Tell You
Break New Ground
If something resonates, I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments! Hope you enjoy.
Background music: “Slow Dance (Bisexual Remix)” by The Lizzy Co Show
Hot Girl
Forget about the hot girl summer, friend,
It’s Hot Girl Sonnet Era, I say so.
When I get invitations, I attend;
When pulsing beats get loud, I drop it low.
The thing that makes this era something new
Is that I’m present, achingly aware.
I’m healed, I’m whole, I’m feeling way less blue;
My body feels like something I can share.
The Hot Girl Sonnet Era starts today.
My first goal: go outside in a crop top,
And trust that everything will be OK;
Nobody will tell me I have to stop.
My body is just fine, and so am I.
It’s time to show some skin off to the sky.
The Loving Ground
Someday I’ll rest inside the loving ground;
A weighted blanket, calming, soft release.
But ‘til that day, I’ll make a joyful sound,
I’ll focus my efforts on finding peace.
I did the math, and as it all adds up,
So far I’ve spent about ten thousand bucks
On therapy copays, it’s not a bluff.
The fact that I have access? Mostly luck.
It can’t all be for nothing, it’s my job
To make the shitty past into something
That makes me feel less like I got so robbed
Of safety, loving home, good family.
Someday I’ll rest inside the loving ground.
For now I think I’ll fucking stick around.
Summer Romance
A summer romance feels like what I need,
Perhaps a sunset walk near the ocean.
A fling with someone who’s real sweet to me,
Who looks my way and just can’t help but grin.
A summer romance feels so damn deserved,
My body really wants some hands on it.
I want to lay back and get fucking served,
Let someone take care of me for a bit.
A summer romance doesn’t have to be
The center of my life, just something fun,
Some time under the clouds, two laughing free,
It really doesn’t have to be The One.
I’m ordering up a summer romance.
Just one request: someone who will slow-dance.
Write Or Die
I write to turn my feet from the cliff’s edge,
To send them back to safety in the town.
Each word a fence blocking me from the ledge,
Each paragraph a lasso on a frown.
I write because I am so alive now,
That didn’t always used to be the case.
Wanted to die, I just didn’t know how
To stay numb and keep up a pretty face.
I write because if I had to live it,
(Because now I know how bad my life was)
Then I deserve to talk about damage.
(I’m evidence, I’m history, my cuz.)
I write because, finally, I can speak.
Let’s see what kind of chaos I can wreak.
Understandable, But Wrong
My mother thought kids take care of parents.
It’s understandable, it was her life.
Her own mother gave birth to her youngest;
The epidural left her paralyzed.
My mother was the oldest, at seven;
A fourth sibling had died along the way.
There were three still left outside of heaven;
My mom tried to get them from day to day.
She went with them into an orphanage,
Until the court case settled with the docs.
She never reckoned with all of the rage
Of living childhood tossed among the rocks.
She thought that daughters take charge very young.
It wasn’t normal. I knew it was wrong.
Crêpe Date
I got stood up today for a crêpe date;
I have to say, it didn’t feel the best.
I stood in chilly Boston wind to wait.
(Show up on time or early: the first test.)
I gave him fifteen minutes after four
To text or call or message, anything;
At quarter past, well, this girl hit the door.
Come on, man, I’m not asking for a ring,
Just punctuality or courtesy.
I know sometimes things really do come up,
But your first impression on good pussy
Shows smart women exactly what is what.
I got stood up today for a crêpe date.
Maybe some other fish will take the bait.
Noticing in the Square
A man, unhoused, with newspapers to sell.
Bronze statue of a dog with a bright nose.
Sustained jubilant tones from a church bell.
The train station, where people come and go.
A fence that needed mending in one spot.
Buds elbowing their way out from branches.
A kid tying their shoelace in a knot.
The bar where years ago I took chances.
A couple holding hands who look my way.
The movie theater with the seats so steep.
I notice things because I am OK.
I’m so OK that I’m not scared to leap.
I think I know the thing I’m looking for,
But of course my heart is open to more.
The Water in the Well
I see the water down inside the well,
So cool, and blue, and lucid as a dream.
When I look at the water, it’s my hell;
Sometimes I feel like everyone agreed
On what you have to do to draw buckets
Up to the surface, so you can slake thirst.
To someone like me, it all seems like luck;
Not knowing how to get it is the worst.
Not sure if it’s that I’m too good or bad,
Too boring or too intimidating,
Too capable, too strong, too fucking rad;
Wish love was Uber, I’d get a rating.
Who wrote the rules for drawing from the well?
Do they feel share-some, like they want to tell?
Straight Men Will Tell You
I’m gonna date some women for a while,
I want to be treated like I can feel.
Folks thought I was gay even as a child,
So might as well check out that whole damn deal.
Nonbinary too, I just want someone
Who doesn’t need to me to teach empathy.
I’m sick of feeling like the only one
In a couple who feels like they’re pretty.
Straight men will tell you they’re ugly and dumb,
Right to your face, then kiss you anyway.
They warn you plainly from day number one,
If you reject them, then they call you gay.
It seems like I should have it easier.
I think I’ll see what life is like with Her.
Break New Ground
Came out as bisexual to my pal,
The one who I tell important things to.
He was so damn proud of me, and I felt
Like I could finally speak my own truth.
He’s gay himself, so he can’t wait for Pride,
He’s gonna show me off, show me around.
I always wondered why I’m not a bride,
But now I get the chance to break new ground.
I feel a heaviness leaving my spine,
My face feels more like smiling by the hour.
My body somehow feels much more like mine,
A sweetness spreading where I was so sour.
This summer just got more interesting.
Let’s see what openmindedness will bring.
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All my best,
Some interesting sonnets, diverse too! Did you write them all at once, or was it a gradual process? Because though they each have uniqueness, they also seem quite cohesive as a whole.
Sonnets are fun, aren't they? I like these. "The Loving Ground" made me think of a line from the Morphine song "Cure for Pain": "Where's all that money that I spent?"
Carry on!😁