Sonnet Sunday: “A Sonnet for My Mother on This Day”

May’s second Sunday is but one day and

Yet, we gather ‘round our flower shops, our

Restaurants, one fortnight before the sand

Of pools and beaches mark the summer hour

To pay homage to the giver of life,

Earthly hub of human spring, from you springs

Forth the fruit of birth, the flow’r of right

And wrong is first known, as we grow, life sings

Through the notes of childhood, adolescence

Then finally, adulthood—the chorus

Constant refrain is, go forth life’s essence

Continue that which was begun in us

So although it’s but only one May day,

Thank you Giver, Singer, this Mother’s Day.

Sonnet Sunday: “Broken Brackets”

The swish of hoops, the squeak of swoosh, Nikes
Reeboks, ‘Didas, Armour, run down hardwood
An’ fly through air. Tourney dreams turn dream-like
State as kids storm courts and screams and hugs could
Be like speech—understood. But games must end
And losers named. Brackets busted upsets
Reign. Seasons over, college seniors send
Résumés—twenty-two—retir’ment met
Final quatrain of the season, epics
Played with steel-rimed goals, leather hopes, but now
Games nearly done, two teams left: set picks,
Defense, plays are run. Five month poem, how
Will it end? Blow out win that’s heaven sent?
Or a buzzer beater’s shining moment?

 Bracket Flames   Villanova Piccolo Player

Coach K, Cutting Down the Nets

Sonnet Sunday: “Spring Forth From Winter”

The snow is gone, the ice dispersed, but cold—
Remains like echoed sound: no place to sled,
No snowball fights to start, nor b’hold,
Waiting on spring with its bright flowers red
Spring break is too chilly, Christmas too warm,
Our weather’s so nice but so untimely,
Dependable, yet fitting not our form
Like a well metered sonnet, yet unrhymely
Change our thought to enjoy things we possess
SoCal may feel good but lacks autumn and
Summer, fine to complain but do not obsess,
Warmth comes soon. With it—tees, shorts, and fans
Next thing you know, we’ll be wondering where
Relief from heat will come and snow so fair.