#443: Of building and construction I have had . . .

The sonnetpocalypse continues on day 5 of National Poetry Writing Month. Here’s a home improvement sonnet with a dangling unrhymed couplet–because I can. Another note of interest, at least to me, is that the rhyming couplet at the end, before the dangler, uses an archaic phrase that I have always been fascinated by—the adverbial phrase “must needs,” which means “must necessarily,” which, of course, contains way too many flipping syllables. And “must needs” just sounds better, more sophisticated, more poetic than the pedestrian and contemporary equivalent of “have to.” I have to spend some time on the coast. No, I must needs spend some time at the coast. Which reminds me, it’s been entirely too long since I have visited the beach. I need a vacation. A vacation from retirement.

Five

Of building and construction I have had
Enough. Enough already. That’s enough. 
The ditch, the dirt, debris in heaps, it’s mad;
The drills, saws buzzing, the pounding nails–rough. 
It takes longer and costs more than is right,
And snags await at almost every turn,
The first one, ten thousand in fees, the blight
Of home improvement. Yeah, it does, it burns.
We try to transcend what feels like pure rage
By stepping into this space, breathing deep,
Finding a place of gratitude. Our age
Allows a sense of what to toss, to keep;
So often with these kinds of things we find
We must needs suffer for some peace of mind. 

Until we realize we might have to take
Legal action against our contractor.