Jewish Life Kolot

Kolot: Poet and Artist

An obsessive lot:
Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s
49 Sonnets from the Portuguese;
46 Monet Haystacks.

Become the Sonnet, become the Haystack:

Seek the source, root, core, rub
your nose in it, smell
the sweet dampness, put
an ear to it, hear
a song of drying, ease
fingers into steaming wet heat, feel
it give, fold
burrow inside a reed.

Become the Poem:
Wrap in it like a cocoon
roll in it like silt
scrape it under fingernails like fish scales
breathe it in like musk
slide it onto your tongue like honey
let it fill your heart like the cry of a birth
and shed its skin on paper
like a rattlesnake.

Bonnie Thompson Enes

Bonnie Thompson Enes  of Bloomfield is a poet
whose work has appeared in several anthologies
and magazines.

KOLOT is a feature of the Jewish Ledger in which readers are invited to submit original work on a topic of their choosing.   Inquiries and/or submissions should be sent to editorial@jewishledger.com.

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