FAST Sonnets in Cyberspace #9

THE SONNET is perhaps the best poem structure for the time-challenged 21st-century reader — forgoing lengthy free verse, the sonnet concisely delivers 14 power-packed lines. True, haiku is more concise, but I digress…

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See how sunlight frolics with tuneful surf,
Unceasing symphony sung by the tide
As it reclaims once more its shoreline turf.
Forever surges crystal sea, beside
Horizon’s mystery — while dolphins dance
Cavorting free and sandpipers play chase
With breaking waves and sun-bright flowers prance
Near beach in wild-eyed reverie and race
Of manatee so leisurely proceeds.
Since this Gulf Coast finds reasons to rejoice —
Ancient chorus, countless voices — and seeds
Such hope despite falling fire’s day’s-end choice…
Oh can you tell me why ship wrecks on shoal
And why shell-shards pierce my unsandaled soul?

© Bruce William Deckert 2018

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POETRY 411 NOTES

• I wrote most of this sonnet in April 2000 during a vacation with extended family on the Gulf Coast of Florida. The first 12 lines observe and celebrate the variegated wonders and evident upside of that ocean habitat, while the closing couplet describes the downside (sometimes potential and sometimes actual).

• This is a Shakespearean (or English) sonnet — a 14-line poem comprised of three four-line stanzas and a closing couplet, with the following rhyme scheme: abab cdcd efef gg. The Shakespearean sonnet has 10 syllables per line, often (but not always) employing iambic pentameter — as you may recall from English class, this is an arrangement of five pairs of unstressed and stressed syllables (one iamb is such a pair).

• This blog focuses on sports-and-faith issues, so each sonnet I’m posting has at least one sports connection. Here the connection comes clearly in the reference to “race of manatee” — though it’s safe to say the manatee’s race time wouldn’t exactly qualify for any Olympic swimming teams.

Let me know your thoughts, however brief, in the comment section. Thanks for stopping by — I hope you’ve found your time here to be worthwhile.