POEMS

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3 Degrees

autumn

Bam!

dates

Elevators

Grace

I Was Here

Lapse

Leap

Messengers

Mocha Wars

reminders

Santa

Sit

The Other Boy

What Darkness Taught Me

This is a Shakespearean sonnet, a traditional form for romantic poetry with 3 quatrains and a couplet in iambic pentameter and the rhyme scheme ababcdcdefefgg. The challenge was to conform to these restrictions but make it feel fresh and natural while retaining the musicality of a sonnet. To that end, I combined strict iambic pentameter with some extreme enjambment and used a mix of slant and perfect rhymes. I also bookended the story with a fantastical metaphor to set the tone and provide perspective. The poem began in a Writer's Studio class and drew inspiration from Julie Kane's wonderful poem As If.