[Rhina P. Espaillat]

This reading of sonnets by the 'Sphereans has been a delight, and one from which I've learned a lot, both from the sonnets themselves and from the comments on them. But as for choosing "winners," good grief, has that been hard!

But having told Tim I would choose winners, I have, despite the temptation to say "All of the above." And here they are, in two tiers ("One" being the "tops") of three sonnets each, with the sonnets in each tier roughly equivalent:

Tier One: Phenomenon; Aftershocks; Charlemagne's Vision
Tier Two: Hardy; Singing Bird; Lorenzo Lotto's Annunciation

And here are a few words about each, not to justify my choices, but by way of celebration and thanks for the astonishing quality of the poems it's been my privilege to read and think about during these two weeks or so:

"Phenomenon": What I love most about this poem in which there is nothing not to admire is its intelligence, the way it traces everything we know back to the most ordinary things that are with us all our lives: the body, the soapy water it needs, the sponge, the basin that contains them. I am enchanted by the reality of these things, the care they suggest, the way they do more than the people--even "old Eurykleia"--who use them, the energy with which water springs, "startled," and how the basin makes noise and is "amazed." I am persuaded by the way things "discover" us and usher us into whatever knowledge we achieve, so that even wisdom becomes--but only to someone listening as intently and intelligently as this poet--"a clang of bronze."


"Aftershocks": If this poet we all recognize had written nothing else so far but this poem, it would be enough by itself to indicate her place in American poetry, and suggest what can be expected from her. It's a glorious sonnet, perfectly contained by its central metaphor, sending out waves of meaning and implication. What this poem does with simple language used in complex ways--"where we are bound," "a stranger land," "the fault"--is miraculous.

"Charlemagne's Vision": This is an unusual choice for me; I am leery of poems whose point may be described as political, having found that many of them eventually bog down in the slough of polemics. But this poem is just that, an excellent poem, not polemics at all. It arrives at its political point via history, film-like narration, the imaginative assumption of a persona, powerful imagery and elegant language. It's a one-sentence voyage from troubled past to troubled present, unbroken, inexorable, weighted with people and events, traveling fast.

"Singing Bird": My suspicions about this sonnet's authorship point to Texas, because of its humor, its charm,
its tough-as-nails approach to what poets do, its healthy respect for "dailiness," its modesty, and its clear affection for "poor Septimus." And, of course, the skill and deftness of its execution!

"Hardy": This is such a good sonnet that it's a fitting tribute to a poet and novelist I admire greatly. It has the same gritty honesty as the work of the author it celebrates. It interprets his life as a response to the accident of survival, but without reducing him or simplifying him, or cleaning him up. It's compelling and profound; I think Hardy would have respected it and recognized himself in it.

"Lorenzo Lotto's Annunciation": What a gorgeous response to a work of art in another medium! This sonnet should be taught as an example of ekphrasis that works. The poem keeps its eye on the painting throughout, seeing through it to what it implies, not around it to what some other agenda could have embroidered upon it. The lines are jagged and "willy-nilly" in spots, and attention moves restlessly from one detail to another: the angel's hair, God's almost ominous arm in the doorway, the agitated cat, the Virgin's oddly calm expression. Nevertheless, the whole effect is somehow one of unity and serenity, both in the final images and in the language.


Thank you, Tim, for giving me such an interesting homework assignment! And my thanks and congratulations, also, to those poets whose sonnets I very much enjoyed but have not mentioned by title. This whole batch of entries could easily be the cream of an anthology on the sonnet. They illustrate beautifully the form's variety and resiliency, the way it can handle an inexhaustible list of themes and subjects, and handle them all in surprising ways, in the right hands, as these 16--no, 32--certainly are.