"Sonnet 6"

I went through this phase toward the end of college, and continuing a bit afterward, where I wrote a lot of sonnets.  Because I liked the structure and the rules, and because... why not?  I've decided to share a few of my own poems here for the Poetry Month Celebration, and I'm starting with this one because... I can.

I wrote it during the mid-break in this 3-hour, one-night-a-week science class I took my senior year.  The professor told us something about a place called Puku-Puku, and one of the other students tried to find it on a globe, and this poem happened as a result.


"Sonnet 6"

But did you find Puku-Puku?
As you wandered o'er the planet,
Did it nearly make you cuckoo
Not to find your island? Man, it
Could drive a man to chocolate milk,
This unrequited longing for
The island where the finest silk
Feels rougher than its freckled shore,
Where kumquats fall from friendly trees --
The only true ambrosia grows
On your dream isle. The jolly breeze
Delightfully dispels "uh-ohs,"
So Puku-Puku-ites won't worry,
Won't argue, won't gripe -- they won't even hurry.

Copyright Rachel (Ohlendorf )Kovaciny, 2002