Sonnet Earth

Thomas Quitzau

April 4, 2021

For the 10 million soldiers and 7 million civilians

who senselessly lost their lives during World War I

Commit to sprinkling poems in the breeze—

Word currency which will not pay the bills:

Planting seeds in some germinal countries,

For fertile eyes, plowed under topsoil frills;

Life, progressing, leaves old faults confessing—

Brandied sap masters prop up their statures

Ungloved, meekly loved, lovingly messing

Nests planning to withstand Mother Nature’s

Rhythms; syncopated forced convections:

Recoiled festive mossing of the branches

Designed for top-views over cross-sections

Showing off cross complexions, Crossed trenches

     Along which shadows do bend, do obey

     Her terraneous rule, in time worn away.

Thomas Quitzau is a poet and teacher who grew up in the Gulf Coast region and who worked for over 30 years in Houston, Texas. A survivor of Hurricane Harvey, he recently wrote a book entitled Reality Showers, and currently teaches and lives on Long Island, New York with his wife and children.