It’s been difficult to ditch the English way
of tapping out syllables. I liberated myself
from that whole mapping of rhyme scheme
but I still gravitate helplessly toward that
godforsaken rhyming couplet at the end.
Claude McKay adopted the whole shebang
and wrote the most significant sonnets
of the twentieth century, as Beyoncé has
schooled us about the true roots of country.
Now we’ve got ourselves an American
Sonnet, breaking free of all norms save for
the number 14, and even then, sometimes not.
Nothing’s sacred anymore, and I feel down
to my bones that this is both a blessing and a curse.
michael jarmer 