Breathe—A Broken Sonnet by Lynne Cook

Lynne Cook reads her poem 'Breathe—A Broken Sonnet'

Music courtesy of Logicmoon on freesound.org

This poem appears in 34-37 Degrees South 2025 - An Anthology of Poetry from members of the South Coast Writers Centre. 

Fresh words brought to you by the South Coast Writers Centre

Transcript

Breathe—A Broken Sonnet by Lynne Cook

The world grew cracked and dry through that yellow year,

birthed curl and twist of flame. Its rage and roar

left blasted earth, its smoking ash, our breathless fear

of darkened skies above cinder seas. Tore

our hearts from us. Once before, a quaking earth

was split; loosed waves which surged to heaven-height,

those mounds of scarecrow dead, a curse

of empty, silent, sodden land. The sight

of such loss made us breathless.   How do I breathe now?

Now my smaller world is broken? Your cooling hand

in mine, the fading gift of your mother-scent, how

do I live, how do I leave you in that lost land

of death?      It is life’s price, when once we’re born.

Rejoice. Each day, give thanks. Then kneel to mourn.

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