I’m channeling a poet that I knew

When I was just a student learning how

To write and make verses rhyme. And a few

Of the lines I’ve written in this form now

Force the discipline needed to express

All the emotions built up in the years

Before I found the courage to address

The tight knot that lived inside. My heart hears

Now the words that spill from these old fingers,

And they ease the pain a bit. These sonnets

Driven by hard choice, like dust that lingers

Bright in the wake of a streaking comet,

Illuminate the sky long after, while

In the moment, the poems make me smile.