Sonnet for the Distance Between Us

Jackpine Contest Entry

March 27, 2010

The Geist Jackpine Sonnet Contest is at its halfway point and the entries are rolling in. To make things inter­est­ing Geist will post (with per­mis­sion from the authors) a few sub­mis­sions to the Geist Jackpine Sonnet Contest for your view­ing. Each poem will be posted anony­mously and com­ments on the poem will not be con­sid­ered in con­test judging.

 

So watch this space to find your muse and then write your own Jackpine Sonnet. The con­test closes July 1st, so get writing!

 
Sonnet for the Distance Between Us 

Your gar­den, once ten blocks from my front door.
Red fence open, I’d find you pok­ing dirt
with a plain fork to tend sor­rel, onions.
Now this: 817 kms by plane.
I’ve sensed this dis­tance before, from the air—
Rockies exposed beneath cloud like jawbones
or ver­te­brae, splayed mass of the earth’s
indif­fer­ent core. Where I write this poem
the ground is frozen. You go walk­ing, snap
pho­tos of impend­ing spring, new buds, not
know­ing inside what is bound to happen
will soon begin. Then you, speculum-scraped,
 
aer­ated, will call to say despite this

dis­tance the fence still swings open, sorrel. 

4 Comments

Anonymous

01 Apr 2010
the description of the landscape sends shivers along the tops of my arms.

Alana

11 Apr 2010
I love this one really hard. Wow.

Anonymous

14 Apr 2010
Intriguing.

Anonymous

19 Apr 2010
Frozen ground, scraped uterus. Very workmanlike, solid. Might have gone overboard with the sorrel, but I like the actual distance in Kilometers.

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