Sonnettics

A playground’s where a kid can be a kid

Can you remember when you were that free

Remember all the things we freely did

The playground’s where we’d always want to be

A jungle or a castle, built for fun

To spin or slide, especially with friends

Sometimes there was a field where we could run

A place to play where friendship never ends

The grass is green and skies above are blue

The seeds of friendship grow and grow and grow

Regardless of what kids may want to do

The playground seems to welcome them and know

It knows it’s built for kids to just be free

The playground’s where they always want to be.

To quilt you need to know you’re making art

The art of warmth, a quilting metaphor

A fabric poem, written from the heart

It’s poetry, and yet, it’s so much more

More senses are engaged in what you make

Than any simple poem, read or heard

Reach out and feel the warmth, for goodness sake

The warmth you feel is more than any word

To quilt, the artist works with more than thread

The quilter works with colors, textures too

And warmth, I know it’s already been said

But quilted warmth is everything you do

May every quilt you make be seen as art

And may the warmth of quilting fill your heart. 

I heard a song when I was just a boy

It called to me to learn its every note

A melody made simply to enjoy

I searched in places some might call remote 

But home is where the heart can music hear

“Remote” is just a place where I can be

“Remote” is where the birds can gather near

“Remote” is where they sing their songs to me

The songs of birds are beautiful and strong

Their strength is found by listening in peace

I still believe I hear a peaceful song

At times their peaceful melodies increase

Remote and peaceful music calls me still

To where I want to go and where I will.

I listened to Walt Whitman’s tale tonight
He lived a life of poetry for all
Poetically his words were always right
The words I heard tonight could rise and fall

They rise in strong crescendos like the dawn
They fall in festoons from his lovely lips
And still they rise and fall though he is gone
He lingers like the touch of fingertips

The Leaves of Grass are where the poets walk
They signal life that springs to life with words
The words are written, but to me they talk
And then they fly away like little birds

And though they fly away from those who spurn
The words of Walt seem always to return.

Yes, I am a professional poet, a sonneteer.

I have commissioned various sonnets/lyrics. I am available to compose sonnets at your request.

My cost is $100 per line of pentameter. $1400 for a sonnet. This is slightly less than I’ve charged in the past, but I like the number 14. I take payments via PayPal, once we’ve agreed upon a commission.

email me at: sonnettics@gmail.com or scottennis@gmail.com with “Sonnet Commission” as the subject. Looking forward to writing kick-ass iambic pentameter for you!

When sleep becomes elusive as a fox

I chase the dreams that dwell in shallow graves

I find that death has claimed a wooden box

And hides beneath the stones that no one saves

My metaphors are mixed like fox and stones

And yet, there’s still a coffin in the ground

The music there is made of solemn tones

And sung by bloody birds without a sound

It’s poetry, so everything is right

As right as scraping horse shit off the street

When water turns to wine there’s more of it

Of poetry, not wine before we eat

All mimsy were the sounds that no one’s seen

It shows the way that mold is oddly green.

The second Tuesday of November calls
It calls for every patriot to vote
The right to choose who represents us all
‘Tis something true democracies denote

Each vote that’s cast will represent the will
The people’s will; the voice of everyone
A vote, a voice, a call that lingers still
Like Tuesday calls to all, come rain or sun

We vote because it matters who will lead
We choose our leaders by majority
November’s is a call we all should heed
If we would give our will authority

The second Tuesday of November’s near
Prepare to be a voter without fear!