Three Sonnet Poems by Joshua Green

 

English sonnet

 

The Bloom

 

I looked upon the flowers blooming, leaves

Of flesh ascending t’ward the rising sun.

And at the center I saw your face, weaves

Of you that grew—because of what I’d done.

 

Your eyes were closed within the petal’s frame,

Pollen given by winged creatures of old,

Your hardened bones stillborn despite the game

That children play to pluck you from the fold.

 

You are dozens. You are every flower,

A denizen of this peaceful meadow.

Though you died, I raised you through my power,

Giving you time to thrive again and grow.

 

So here I’ll wait until you fully bloom,

The way you did when you had left my womb.

 

 

 

 

 

English sonnet

 

An Engagement by the Sea

 

She came upon the bloated man at dawn,

Washed ashore by the coming tide, tangled

Hair wet from sea-water, face gaunt and drawn.

A heavy frown, her lips wet and spangled,

 

She turned to leave the swollen corpse alone,

But when she felt the cold dead hand she spun,

And saw the man lifting a seaworn stone.

With outstretched hands that glistened in the sun,

 

He gurgled words she did not understand,

And rolled his eyes far back into his head,

Before withdrawing back to the sea, hand

Now holding hers, as if they would be wed.

 

With the stone held upon her beating chest,

They disappeared under the coming crest.

 

 

 

 

 

Spenserian sonnet

 

The Library Field

 

I came upon a field where words were scrawled,

Plants that stretched beyond the sky, secret roots

From the ever-yawning mouths of gods, sprawled

Within the dirt beneath my very boots.

 

There hung a plant so ripe with hanging fruits,

One such fruit with words etched upon its skin.

So I plucked and ate and gave my tributes

As the long-buried gods released their din.

 

The fruit, I knew, was the life of their kin.

Their skin held stories and secrets of old.

Of the mouth of gods I ate, with a grin—

Until nothing sat in the field but mold.

 

For upon tasting, I had learned too much,

And greatly wished that I had never touched.

 

Joshua Green is an author of weird fiction, fantasy, and science fiction. His work has appeared or is forthcoming in British Fantasy Society: Horizons, Strange Aeon, Spectral Realms, Penumbra, Calliope Interactive, and elsewhere. He has three wonderful children and a miniature Australian shepherd named Juni.