During the summer of 2010, I wrote three poems that I subsequently submitted to a number of contests and literary journals to no avail. However, as developing a traditional publication record isn’t a priority at the moment, I’ve decided to post them. The first one’s below, and the others already have been scheduled to post over the next two weeks. Truth be told, I’m not as happy with them as I have been with my more recent work, but I feel like sharing. Anyway…
I’d never written a Petrarchan sonnet before I put these words to paper in June ’10. Honestly, I still didn’t manage it, as there’s no real volta, although I justified it to myself that grief itself cancelled out the volta. Hmm.
Here’s the text and an image. ♥
When You Were Mine.
It’s in a scrapbook, in a box they don’t mean to
open again. Your artifacts hurt too much for
regular consumption. There are tracts of grief, doors
locked from the inside, and everyone just makes do.
And yet, the curiosity builds as a lust
without the promise of relief. When you used to
spell out words on fogged up windows, it was I, too,
who reached through the translucence to find you. I trust
that in a hallowed place, they have evidence
of your vision. I won’t know. It’s not here. Like you.
It makes no difference if I trip myself up on
hypotheticals. Within the useless frequence
of this dire, crushed up need to take your hand, the view
remains the same wherever I go. You’re still gone.
