Hell Yes, I Write Sonnets Sometimes When I’m Waiting in Lines.
Gotta entertain myself, don’t I?
Here’s a little introductory one I wrote a while back, probably at the DMV.
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The words of this sonnet transport me to a place where I can see the "builder" with his plane feeling the rough texture of the wood becoming smooth(er). and at some point he says with a gravely voice, "good enough" . . .
Love it! My Dylan-saturated brain can't help but hear an echo of "But he's badly built / And he walks on stilts / Watch out he don't fall on you" from "Most Likely You Go Your Way (And I'll Go Mine)." But that's the difference between us: artists create and professors compare.
As a fellow Dylan fan, you might appreciate this. Have you ever noticed that each verse of "Tangled Up in Blue" is kind of a sonnet? The published lyrics list only 13 lines per verse, but the way Dylan sings it there's really 14 with a closing couplet ["Gettin' through / Tangled Up in Blue"]. Not iambic pentameter, but still pretty cool, right? The Italian poet he mentions was probably Petrarch, inventor of the love sonnet. After reading your sonnet, I can imagine you both "Workin' for a while on a fishin' boat / Right outside of Delacroix" and smashing bottles 'gainst each bow.
Thanks for the art and inspiration, Josh! Now you make me want to go listen to Lyle Lovett's "If I Had a Boat" and Guy Clark's "Boats to Build," or go read Tennyson's "Ulysses." (Again with the comparisons....)