Let Me Write You a Poem
(A Sonnet)
by Nathan Tompkins
Let me write you a poem—a few words
ink scratched along blue veins, written letters
exhale, stretch their breaths across a curved page.
Let me read you a poem—phonetic
syllables carried from my tongue glide on
the raven wings of thought and memory.
—lips wrap murmured breaths sung in your ear—
Let me be your poem—fourteen short lines
in an iambic pattern whispered down
your skin to the creased border of your hips.
—tongue composed stanzas scrawled between your thighs—
And I’ll be your sonnet—settled inside
your waking dream from the morning’s first touch
until the starlight’s last shuddering breath.
ink scratched along blue veins, written letters
exhale, stretch their breaths across a curved page.
Let me read you a poem—phonetic
syllables carried from my tongue glide on
the raven wings of thought and memory.
—lips wrap murmured breaths sung in your ear—
Let me be your poem—fourteen short lines
in an iambic pattern whispered down
your skin to the creased border of your hips.
—tongue composed stanzas scrawled between your thighs—
And I’ll be your sonnet—settled inside
your waking dream from the morning’s first touch
until the starlight’s last shuddering breath.
Nathan Tompkins is a Hard of Hearing writer living northwest of Portland, Oregon. His work has appeared in numerous publications and anthologies including The Gravity of the Thing, Maudlin House, and Into the Void.