July - Poem 31

I Used the Internet to Write This Poem/And Still Call It a Sonnet   / MeraBaid Kuar

with lines by Clayre Benzadon, RJ Equality Ingram, MeraBaid Kaur, Dallas (Amber) Outlaw, Azmia Ricchuito, Tammy Smith, Kes Maro, Daphne Stanford

The city cracks its wrists 
before a moth could fly toward flambé

the pace was an ancient animal 
you’ve already stepped here

risky in stupor
the same clowns are pointing & grinning

because the laughter had witnesses 
Pepperidge Farm remembers

a pomegranate is an apple’s honest
somewhat untouched

carousel
jealous of each spoonful

resistance is your favorite game 
but my defiance is whimsical 

wear me like rain
until your body surrenders or sunrise comes. fall asleep

to who I was: less
a map of my wounds

just enough bite to be aftertaste
the world is an unblemished apple

where the doors are doors of paper
because pain is a poor/ Historian

I told the trees and crows
there is no chemical solution to a spiritual problem

consider how quietly the foxcat leaves
we swallow without knowledge, we only slightly pause

as we go the unknown ways
the lesson was already in the clay