Jehanne Dubrow

SONNET, EXILED

The poem is displaced. It is a patch

of earth the wind has gusted everywhere.

Its lines—dispersed—are difficult to catch

like dandelion seeds that lift through air.

The poem is a crystal glass. It’s smashed

to lucid dust. It is the aftermath

of collision, a vehicle that’s crashed.

It is an eyelash on the porcelain bath.

It is a scab come loose from injured skin

and falls unnoticed, hardly missed. A scar

replaces it. The poem can’t begin

without remembering the silt, how far 

its words were carried by a river’s force. 

The poem floats, increasingly off course.

JEHANNE DUBROW is the author of three books of creative nonfiction and ten books of poetry, including, most recently, Civilians (Louisiana State University Press, 2025). Her work has appeared in New England Review, Ploughshares, and Southern Review.. She is a professor of creative writing at the University of North Texas.