Tom C. Hunley: “It’s Not So Hard to Write a Sonnet, Man”
IT’S NOT SO HARD TO WRITE A SONNET, MAN
It’s not so hard to write a sonnet, Man.
Write of a loving couple paired like rhyme.
Let them get old, but not their love, and scan
your lines so that they dance in time,
the lines, I mean, but yes, the lovers, too.
And let them fight. Let them go broke and break
each other down in ways you never knew
that lines and hearts could break. Let each one take
a turn at burning down what they have made
together. Let them make-remake their love.
You may need to revise. Don’t be afraid
of amniotic fluid, tears, or blood.
A sonnet’s not so hard to write, my friend.
What’s hard is loving so love doesn’t end.
Tom C. Hunley is a professor in the MFA/BA programs at Western Kentucky University. His poems have appeared in Valparaiso Poetry Review, Verse Daily, Verse Wisconsin, Verve, Virginia Quarterly Review, The Volta, and others.