Wile E. Coyote Wrote This Sonnet On His Way Down

Poetry
Written By Jon Lemay

Above, the stars are swelling and swelling
as they do. Me—I’m still just a sad song
humming its way up a throat. Paint a tunnel
on the maroonest canyon wall, run into it,
and then try to imagine the same act
in a fleshless, loveless world. That’s why
I keep saying it’s always better to feel something
than nothing—which I say as someone
who’s felt enough of both to last a short lifetime.
Longing begets longing even in the most bloodshot eyes,
and the heart grows bolder with its beating:
an accordion stretching beyond what it’s given
permission to reach toward. Containing a heart
is one thing. Keeping it forever? Please.

 

The lines "try to imagine the same act in a fleshless, loveless world"
are modeled after lines from Mark Irwin's poem "A Glass of Water."

 
Jon Lemay

Jon Lemay is a poet from New Hampshire who has also lived in Tennessee, New Jersey, and New York. He holds an MFA in Creative Writing from Syracuse University, where he served as an Editor-in-Chief for Salt Hill Journal. Jon's work has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize and longlisted for the Ralph Angel Poetry Prize—and Jon was a finalist for a fellowship at the University of Wisconsin’s Institute for Creative Writing. His poetry has appeared in Salamander, Nashville Review, Juked, Bodega, Prelude, and elsewhere—and his reviews have appeared in Barrelhouse and Poetry Northwest.

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