Rhina has served Able Muse ably as Guest Lariat, and scarcely needs to be introduced. Let me wryly observe, however that Newburyport's Powow Poets, of whom Rhina is the presiding genius, have accounted for five of the thirteen sonnets we are reviewing here. It is said of Ireland that it maintains a standing army of 3000 poets, but these days Newburyport is where the action is.
Moods
I'm learning the subjunctive, mood of choice
once the indicative has slipped away
that seemed to say it all once. Active voice,
yes, all the tenses--I need those to say
act and remembrance, why and how we live--
but now, subjunctive and conditional
("If that should happen") and obligative
("Let this be said") feel truer than "I shall,
he did, we are." A ripening to speech
spiced and complex and tart, past what I'm sure
of--or was sure of--or set out to reach;
how to acquire a taste for the impure
provisional, that's what I need to know,
before the last imperative says "Go."
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Threaded Mode
