Earlier this week, Margaret got me thinking about sonnets. I knew I had written one, but had to dig hard at A Year of Reading to find it: Coffee House Sonnet. Turns out it’s from NPM 2010, and I haven’t archived that year’s project over at Poetrepository yet. (Adding that to my to-do list…)
We’ve been enjoying a few days of perfect September weather, and because it was clear this morning, I went for my walk before the sun came up and I got to say hello to my good friend, Orion, for the first time since he waved goodbye and marched over the western horizon last winter.
Tricia has this week’s Poetry Friday Roundup at The Miss Rumphius Effect.
A(nother) Year of Reading 
This is lovely, Mary Lee. And now I have another mentor text to use. I’m determined to write a sonnet now. It’s like a puzzle you can’t stop working on.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Like a puzzle for sure, and also like baking, I think. I spent awhile prepping the pan and gathering my ingredients (idea, lists of possible rhymes, what would be the turn on line 9) before I actually started writing a draft.
LikeLiked by 1 person
What a lovely sonnet, Mary Lee. I never tried one. Maybe someday (hey, that could be my title!)
LikeLiked by 1 person
Lovely and evocative. Love the hope of September with its bright blue skies. 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
I’ve written only a couple of sonnets–they are tough! I love yours, especially “to drape a thick and soggy robe of haze,” the hope that September brings, and that you greet Orion in the morning.
LikeLiked by 1 person
But then September…my goodness what a turn. The meter is calming and steady. And, such lush images. I can almost taste this one. Beautiful sonnet.
LikeLiked by 1 person
But ‘then September comes and with it hope’. All is lovely but I think this line could be a beginning, too, Mary Lee. Our weather (as you know) is very different but the aspen are turning (they say) in the mountains & the nights are cooler. It is coming! Thanks for a beautiful sonnet that makes me want to linger with it.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Mary Lee, the imagery is strong in your super sonnet. When I saw the title of your poem I thought of the late John Prine’s song ‘Summer’s End. ‘ Upon reading your poem it reinforced for me the boundless character of summer days and the inevitability of seasonal change. So glad you did that important bit of excavating. I know how that feels when you have a strong sense of something but cannot quite recall where you left it…
LikeLiked by 1 person
Mary Lee, your sonnet is lovely. It starts with the beauty of the crisp fall and then a return to the stifling summer before coming back to all the benefits of autumn. So beautiful. One of my favorite parts is: “Fall harvest ends all growth, / puts summer’s weary aching bones to bed” It is an interesting idea for my imagination today. Great personification.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Well done, Mary Lee! Sonnets are so tricky! I love your advice about “prepping the pan” and gathering ingredients. Here’s to September’s “bright blue skies and just a hint of red/in maple leaves.”
LikeLiked by 1 person
So beautiful, Mary Lee. I have written numerous sonnets, but I don’t think any of them have this natural lilt. (What I should have said was, I have written numerous sonnets, yet still have this dread-feeling when thinking of writing another! They break me. My head hurts.)
LikeLiked by 1 person
Such evocative language in this poem – I could really feel “thick hot nights without a smidge of breeze” as I was reading it. And I love the imagery in this “puts summer’s weary, aching bones to bed.”
Like Kat, I find sonnets intimidating (unlike Kat, I’ve not attempted one since I was required to in high school English class).
Thanks for sharing this today!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Mary Lee, on this early September morn, I stepped out the door and inhaled the fresh scent of autumn coming round the bend. Then, read your poem and it assured me that a breeze and coolness can be found. Summer’s End is a lovely sonnet with such a smooth flow. I know you spent much time with this one and you should be thrilled at its outcome. In your earlier sonnet I enjoyed the ending, “All things in their own time and their own place.
Work hard, have fun, but keep a steady pace,” because it is filled with wisdom. If you would be interested, I would like to share this sonnet as a send-off piece in my gallery. Let me know.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Carol, thank you for the honor of including my sonnet in your gallery!
LikeLiked by 1 person
A sonnet! I like it, Mary Lee. I was way tired of the “thick and soggy rope of haze,” though, of course, I’ll be missing it come January.
LikeLike
Good Wednesday (!) morning to you! I went back and read your Coffee House Sonnet, and of course you were hewing to a traditional version of the form there, but it is not lost on me how much better crafted this one is. I especially like stanzas 1 and 3, “peculiar blend of dust and spice” and “puts summer’s weary, aching bones to bed.” And, so much more momentum with the enjambments at work! Brava.
LikeLike
Sonnets are such a challenge. I love this one, and love this line:
“puts summer’s weary, aching bones to bed.”
LikeLike