Sonnet CCLIX

Si tout le monde me fuit, je vendrai tout mes pleurs.
Et si personne n’achète mes pleurs, je les boirai.
Ainsi, les pleurs que j’aurai bu mettent à pleurer,
et dans cette belle façon, je flotte, je noie, je meurs.
Comme ça je pense, je meurs. Ce n’est pas franc de l’or,
mais tout le monde ne voient pas plus ma tristesse laide.
Peut-être inondés comme moucherons de mai,
ils semblent comme les grands aveugles, sans ses cœurs.

Ainsi, j’ondule à tout mes océans qui passe,
et même dans le décès je les regarde en masse.

Les océans me semblent comme les vrais amis:
ils recueillissent mes larmes comme souvenirs;
ils ne protègent de mal, monstrueux, nuisible, pire,
avec sa forte puissance qui mange mon corps et ri.

Sonnet CCXX

Before my presentation on Madame Dessay,
I went inside the French room, testing out my show
of slides. I ate my lunch and quickly had to go.
The other ones were quite well done, I have to say.

Approaching me, I started fervently to pray,
for it was near my very lucky turn to go.
And then, so randomly, my teacher went to crow,
“Oh Mike, your «jaune banane» is here for you to take!”

The class looked back at me, expecting my account.
Embarrassed, thus I told the class to turn around.

Retrieving it from up in front, I ate the fruit.
And then, short after that, my eyes were very round.
Presenting very fast (for class was ending now),
the bell then rang so loud. Cut off, I yelled, «Oh, zut!»

Sonnet CXXXIV

The taps upon the roof remind me hence
to look outside the window happily
and greet my lovely guests, who holler whence.
It makes me very glad to see them screech.
They looked so sullen on the wooden fence;
it does them good to be so filled with glee.
And yelling in their dialect no sense
upon my roof, they stamp with heavy feet.

I love my crows (or ravens, I don’t know).
They bring me joy with antics strangely done
and I, of course, indulge them with my laugh
and mimic them. We loudly, brashly crow.
We have a lot of gibberish and fun.
Then leaving to our duty, end our chaff.

Sonnet C

While you were watching mindless T.V. shows
and playing games on dour computers too…
I babysat my brother, and I grew.
I turned sixteen, became a working prole,
Wrote three exams, each lasting three long hours,
(The subjects: counterpoint, then harmony;
the one I self-prepared was history.
They stole July and all my mental pow’r.)
I travelled to Toronto, saw a zoo,
I wrote a hundred sonnets (finally),
began analysis, new harmony,
and watched Olympic Games the whole while through.

And though achievement fills a holey life,
some say the Holy earn a better prize.

Sonnet XCIX

Too short to make an epic narrative,
elaborate exploration of a thought,
compelling arguments by answers taught,
or area to make superlatives.

Too long to make a clear, concise account,
a stunning riddle gruelling through and through,
simplicity of form with artsy truth,
or lovely quatrains in sweet beauty drowned.

Too formal for a ghastly prank or joke,
Too structured for a fix, reform, or change,
Too happy for depressing, dark disdain,
Too serious for carefree choice like prose.

What can a poet say in fourteen lines?
Depends, but hopefully I’ve said a lot.

Sonnet XC

Of course there’s poetry about a nose
but so far I have read no nasal prose.
However, one must not forget the ear,
which tempts the senses with what one can hear.

Celestial sounds and music of the spheres
bear no enchantment with no ears to hear.
Though truly, hearing ears bring happy bliss:
a kind remark or smacking of a kiss.

When you are sad, kind ears hear happy songs.
Ears hear and recognize the ones you long.
Ears brighten days with all there is to hear.
Hear here how ears hear puns, right ear.

Perhaps ears look a little strange and crude,
but hearing stays though ears may be removed!

Sonnet LXXVII

The greatest magic is a language learned,
through lots of conjugation practise earned.
Though dictionaries of may be used at first,
facility grows better still, not worse.

Communication’s key to thrive, survive, and live.
The goods we need from others are derived.
No doubt, linguistic interaction brings
good company (or bad) and other things:

a source of pride, a handy travel guide,
a taste of culture (literally tried?),
new friends, old histories, used in all work,
an academic journey one can’t shirk.

Perhaps one’s diction may not be desired,
but one can speak and certainly be hired.