a certain indefinite number of Petrarchan “sonnets” (32)

Ordinarily I don’t publish so much poetry at Theoria-press, and instead try to provide mostly essays with an odd poem or sonnet occasionally interspersed among them. But the Muse’s visits have outstripped my ability to keep pace with prose pieces so readers who prefer essays should peruse the archives of this site, which are replete with them. Also, I should acknowledge that the formal aspect of this “Petrarchan sonnet” is liberally conceived so it’s unnecessary to alert me that at “Petrarchan sonnet” with 21 lines is like a quartet with 7 members, though criticism and rebuke is always welcome from anyone who feels so moved.

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A PAIR of gnats caught in a web of lies
will struggle against their captivation
but we’re not insects: our isolation
is but the perfidy of space; goodbyes
are only for those who love with their eyes
for those who love from their souls’ foundation
there can be no such thing as separation
and yet how deftly will this world disguise
one as two, and difference multiplies
till oneness seems disintegration
communion resembles fragmentation
and faith of reconciliation dies
so I will wrap myself in silken seams
of gossamer and drops of morning dew
enfold myself in a coat of dreams
for in this world our dreams alone are true
dreams where distance is not what it seems
where space is not estrangement between two
but the accord between two tonal streams
the interval that reunites anew
the counterpoint of me and you

Photo by Raul Macarie on Unsplash