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    Sonnetation
    Sonnetation
    Sonnetation
    Ebook86 pages49 minutes

    Sonnetation

    By Carson Gardner

    ()

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    About this ebook

    Carson Gardner is an enthusiastic amateur poet. He did not begin seriously writing poetry until after a shocking grief in young adulthood. He has been writing poetry now for nearly 40 years. He has had poems purposefully published in local venues, and on very rare occasions accidentally published in national venues. He had fleeting and unremunerative success, as a lyricist, decades ago; helping garner a young folksinger a national award. But Gardner had obsessively avoided the unsettling chore of writing sonnets—that is, until the toll of years apparently impaired his better judgment. Since finally attempting the sonnet, he discovered—actually masochistically enjoyed—the challenge of twisting his mind around the arbitrary Shakespearean form. Gardner's sonnets are not slick, virtuosic, or perfect. But they are a candid peak into the unguarded, semi-unconscious thoughts of an eccentric, socially-clumsy loner who learned how to bluff his way through forty years of street-level helping response to others’ personal pain and fear—caring a lot, but being a bit fluently-autistic about it. This sonnet collection is not about those many he struggled to help in small, compassionate ways. That work would fill a three-volume set, be much more fascinating than these sonnets, and would only be publishable HIPAA-posthumously. Don’t worry—no such writings, by Gardner, exist. He has, only recently, formally achieved the daunting goal of actually completing one hundred one (101) sonnets—an achievement similar to jumping from a second-story window 101 times, without a net. May you choose an easier, more accessible, less-bruising obsession than this. The 101 are here for your perusal—plus a few more. Gardner does not mind if you critique them. But, if you intend to do so, then—before you do so—try to write even one yourself. William Shakespeare’s ghost can, Gardner seems quite confident, ably judge both himself and you.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherCarson Gardner
    Release dateJun 19, 2018
    ISBN9780463866450
    Sonnetation
    Author

    Carson Gardner

    Carson Gardner, a genuine Minnesota-native codger, is a board-certified small-town family doctor and a founding member of the Park Rapids Jackpine Writers’ Bloc. He left the practice of corporate medicine in 1999. Since then he and his wife, Gail, have been living and learning on Gaa-waabaabiganikaag—Land of Abundant White Clay—the White Earth Ojibwe/Anishinaabe Reservation. He has actually had a few poems published—even fewer prose works—and wrote lyrics for an album entitled The Heron Smiled; which helped its singer win a 2001 Native American Music Award. Gardner is bear-clan, a cedar flute player, a traditionally-observant pipestone carver, a joyful dog rescuer, a perennial student of Ojibwe language, culture and spirituality, a hard sci-fi and straight- ahead jazz fan, a compulsive storyteller and an ingenuous dreamer who frustrates sophisticated cynics right and left. He even has a day job—medical director of the White Earth Nation Tribal Health Department and Reservation Ambulance Service.

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      Book preview

      Sonnetation - Carson Gardner

      SONNETATION

      Carson Gardner

      Published by Carson Gardner at Smashwords

      Copyright 2018 by Carson Gardner

      This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be resold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to your favorite ebook retailer and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author. --Smashwords

      PREFACE

      I am an enthusiastic amateur poet. I did not begin seriously writing poetry until after a shocking grief in young adulthood. I have been writing poetry now for nearly 40 years. I have had poems purposefully published in local venues, and on very rare occasions accidentally published in national venues. I had fleeting and unremunerative success, as a lyricist, decades ago; helping garner a young folksinger a national award.

      I have avoided the unsettling chore of writing sonnets—that is, until the toll of years apparently impaired my better judgment. Since attempting the sonnet, I have discovered—actually masochistically enjoyed—the challenge of twisting my mind around the arbitrary Shakespearean form. My sonnets are not elegant, virtuosic, or perfect. But they are a candid peak into the unguarded, semi-unconscious thoughts of an eccentric, socially-clumsy loner who learned how to bluff his way through forty years of street-level helping response to others’ personal pain and fear—caring a lot, but being a bit fluently-autistic about it. This sonnet collection is not about those many I struggled to help in small, compassionate ways. That work would fill a three-volume set, be much more fascinating than these sonnets, and would only be publishable HIPAA-posthumously. Don’t worry—no such writings, by me, exist.

      I have, only recently, formally achieved the daunting goal of actually completing one hundred one (101) sonnets—an achievement similar to jumping from a second-story window 101 times, without a net. May you choose an easier, more accessible, less-bruising obsession than this. The 101 are here for your perusal—plus a few more. I do not care to have you critique them. But, if you intend to do so, then—before you do so—try to write even one yourself. William Shakespeare’s ghost can, I am confident, ably judge us both.

      102

      May your obsession be more mild than this,

      much easier, more sensible, and clear;

      perhaps one hundred crocodiles to kiss,

      or something quite as dangerous to steer.

      May fate not burn a sonnet on your blood,

      nor drive the fourteen rhyme-spikes through your hands;

      not boil you in iambic-lava mud,

      nor cinch the five stigmata, thorny bands.

      Iambic penta-meter flows from hell;

      and, if you doubt me, just one time do dare.

      May God have mercy on your tortured knell,

      and grant eternal sleep to nerves ground bare.

      Ha, ha, I’m only kidding you on sonnet;

      the truth is far, far worse than my take on it.

      _____________

      TABLE OF CONTENTS

      1. Again

      2. Alive

      3. Anishinaabe by the Numbers

      4. At My Word

      5. Ballistic

      6. Best Friend Forever?

      7. Between the Bookends

      8. Big Drum

      9. Blessed Inconvenience

      10. Bobbed Craw-Fee

      11. Bodhi Tree and Lotus

      12. Brush Off the Dust

      13. But Here Each Day

      14. Can’t Make Heaven

      15. Cane Do

      16. Cedar Healing

      17. Circles

      18. Convert

      19. Count on This

      20. Counting Inventory

      21. Damn Sure, Will

      22. Define This Progress

      23. Deuced-Good

      24. Direction Sense

      25. Electric Insight

      26. Epiphany of Peace

      27. Eye-Shield Wool

      28. First One-Hundred-One

      29. Fly High, Thunderbirds

      30. For an Hour or Two

      31. From a Speck

      32. Heart-Light On

      33. Heart-to-Heart

      34. Heart-Touch Patterns

      35. I Carry On

      36. Impact Sonnet

      37. In Cluttered Rooms

      38. Internal Commentary

      39. Just Dumb Beasts

      40. Just Once, for Joy

      41. Just One More

      42. Land That Moves

      43. Laundry Duds

      44. Lifelong Friends

      45. Man in Wheelchair

      46. Man of Fire

      47. Morning Choices

      48. Morning Prayer

      49. My Form

      50. Namby-Pambic

      51.

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