It’s a sonnetarium, right? So, once a week, I used to write a brand new sonnet, often based on suggestions from readers, and post it on the site. But I’ve been busier with music than I’ve been in years, I’m actually working at work, and, though I still make sonnets, I’m very interested in expanding my formal repertoire and at loosening my meters. So—
I’ve officialy shut down the Weekly Sonnets—like it was so reliably there, huh?—and I’m going to use this page to give occasional samples of the kinds of things I’m working on and maybe even some actual Occasional Poetry.
For the first time, I’m putting a poem by someone else on this page. Marcus Bales sends occasional topical poems through email (to me at least— I hope other people also have that pleasure). You may have read how recently a bunch of yahoos broke into Robert Frost’s cottage for a drunken party, doing considerable (and disgusting) damage. Here is Marcus’s response:
Stopping By Woods On A Snowy Evening
Whose house is this? Don’t care,
don’t know;
Some institution owns it, though,
And no authority is near
To salt the roads or shovel snow
This last half mile, and we’ve got beer,
So we will party hearty here
Between the woods and frozen lake
The darkest evening of the year.
I give the knob a half-assed shake
And kick the door before I break
A window, reach around, unlock
The door. Come in, come on, let’s shake
This joint! Burn a chair and hock
A loogie! Poetry’s a crock,
Drink up! We’ll make this party rock!
Drink up! We’ll make this party rock!
Marcus Bales is also
featured at the
double dactyl section of this site.
Send me suggestions (or a poem!) for the next occasion. With your permission, I’ll give you credit any idea; I’ll certainly credit any poem of yours to you.
Oh, and if you came here looking for a now-vanished poem, drop me a line with what you remember about it (title, first line, theme, subject …) and I’ll try to dig it up and send you a copy.