Welcome, blog readers, to another installment of our Pick-a-Poem feature! In the middle of each week, we feature a new poem here on the blog. Consider this your mid-week poetry break, and hopefully you’ll discover a new poet whose work you’ll explore further. As always, the featured poem is found via Poetry Daily, which is a great site for finding new poetry. This week we feature Sonnet for the Misbegotten by Jill Bialosky.
According to her website, Jill Bialosky is the author of several collections of poetry, including Subterranean (2001) and The End of Desire (1997). She is also the author of the novel House Under Snow (2002) and The Life Room (2007). Her poems and essays have appeared in The New Yorker, The Nation, The New Republic, Kenyon Review, and others. She is currently an editor at W.W. Norton & Company and lives in New York City.
Sonnet for the Misbegotten by Jill Bialosky
The surfers are on deck in black diving
penguin suits, fins on their feet—surfer school
for the youth of the rich set—determined
to catch a wave while somewhere less pristine,
another suffers from inner unrest.
Look, the anorexics are frantically
speed-walking the beach pumping three-pound weights,
ignoring the scenic ocean view.
At last evening’s barbecue we discussed
our boys: dyslexic, attention deficient,
prone to depression. How will we get through?
A sandpiper, regal in white and gray,
pecking frantically in the sand observes me,
creature from another world, on my deck chair.
I hope you enjoyed this week’s featured poem! For more of these types of posts, click right here.
– Jet Fuel Blog Editor, Mary Egan
