#1-3 Three sonnets
#1
i was limited to black and white
rates in parenthesis
walking on glass rivers
a small room in the sea
hidden in those legs
the space of summer
a labyrinth of language
my small house
white flowers
green thoughts
sleep wantonly in decadent leaves
look at each stadium fade
the head of a woman
a prologue of sound
#2
coming soon
alone in the room
a chrysanthemum wilting
to the sound of shoes on linoleum
each time
bumper crop
happen stance
triennial chronicle
i was alone in the room
wilting
to the sound of shoes on linoleum
each time
bumper crop
happen stance
#3
nothing rhymes with me
my body transparent as the sea
my mind rain dripping from the roof
moment eloquent with meaning
pale as a corpse
presentiment of the richest idea
but what happens
my earlier conception of life
i live on emptiness
an event which remains hidden
for a long time
imperfections in the narrative
nothing more than thought
not even an echo
#4 from Distant landscapes
winter beneath the trees
circuitous route inexorably
although not comfortable
either alone or together
wandering ear
walking through life backwards
owl creek bridge
pig carcasses behind high school
bias misty and all over
stuck backseat enough underwear
anyone's space is romantic
at this distance
i was a drunk man that aims
conjoined days willing
caught at touchy horizon
hinging yesterday's disaster
she's so pretty
only acting
blank plane
of vertical forgetting
moving breasts endless
rusty guessing luck
hint at largesse
moldy water rope
sake of crowd
grasping for floating
infinity is sympathetic
whisper of pearl
sky's walls
threaten suburban picnics
subaltern column
ricochets the temple incense
i was a frustrated chandelier
in love with barometers
happy and false
historical rainstorms
a carnival clinic
no longer exists
wind that chills
stirs my being
accompaniment of eyes
on a sparse field
backwards animals
a form of dialect
putrid and departed
my wedding day
thump of road
wrapped vernacular
watching the sky
its final helmet
duchess of vanishing
carves an ending
#5 from distant landscapes
were founded epidemics
of the devil
dancing about it
many days failed
mind from body
goodly inhabitants subjection
before the multitude
abounding internal measuring
vices worshiping promiscuous
now within manure
cornfields overgrown long
empty village starved
precarious uncouth wilderness
dark partying complected
special grave providence
fiery serpent flying
of the god
failed to control
their appetites ironic
pallid stranger vigilance
tormenting fit ultimate
confirm an identity
burial ground fearful
indulgent unto harsh
continual maypole slavish
outer edge of life
inner structure deviant
wolves and bears
captive of the
weed and wayward
follow faint threads through dark
and lonely mountains
making her body as small as possible
rabbit hunched unmoving
except for her ears
my chest was clogged
blossoms scattered and fell
we couldn't wait to leave home
i went to the city but
the forest kept disappearing
bony tree
where i disappeared at every intersection
i vowed not to write any more
until the forest began to think in verse
the forest began to think in verse
the man i loved
the kind of man every woman loves
the kind that presents a great challenge
to one's sanity
so i followed faint threads to the forest
hoping poetry will destabilize my region
the leaves learn to rhyme and
flowers too even if meter is continually
destroyed by the wind
dissimilar animals find their metaphoric relationships
but run far apart
like state and religion a toxic combination
what is the relationship of the dead to the living
i kissed miss hill
i was in second grade
it was so inappropriate
school officials contacted my parents
to ask them if i was getting enough affection at home they said
i was tho wasn't
signs of abandonment
i miss you even when together
adopt a bar hostess persona
safe haven
adroitly the code of silence begins
until the forest stops thinking
hierarchy of evil
another debacle
© Jane Joritz-Nakagawa
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