Jeri Theriault

SONNET AT SIXTY-FIVE

I leap [this late] like a startled  crow    
choosing verbs & vowels  augur    allow     
such loft & shimmer    my summer  
yews.  I [l]earn evening light   
[like a foreign tongue]   back-yard 
vixen [voracious] violets.  I crave 
a villa in Vilnius    vermillion 
flip-flops & one last visit 
with my mother  who smoked  
at dusk & prayed her vast wants. 
my mirrored face [hers]   a map now   
or visa   opens [crack & caw] vistas    
this new     invalid country.

Jeri Theriault’s collections include Radost, my red and the award-winning In the Museum of Surrender. Her poems and reviews have appeared in journals such as: The American Journal of Poetry, The Rumpus, Rhino and The Collagist. A 2019 Maine Literary Award winner, Jeri lives in South Portland, ME. www.jeritheriault.com