April 24: American Sonnet for the New Year

[Martha]

American Sonnet for the New Year
Terrance Hayes

things got terribly ugly incredibly quickly
things got ugly embarrassingly quickly
actually things got ugly unbelievably quickly
honestly things got ugly seemingly infrequently
initially things got ugly ironically usually
awfully carefully things got ugly unsuccessfully
occasionally things got ugly mostly painstakingly
quietly seemingly things got ugly beautifully
infrequently things got ugly sadly especially
frequently unfortunately things got ugly
increasingly obviously things got ugly suddenly
embarrassingly forcefully things got really ugly
regularly truly quickly things got really incredibly
ugly things will get less ugly inevitably hopefully

--

Also by Terrance Hayes: 
+ Serenade
+ New York Poem

Today in: 
2024: How Can Black People Write About Flowers at a Time Like This, Hanif Abdurraqib
2023: Lit, Andrea Cohen
2022: Meditations in an Emergency, Cameron Awkward-Rich
2021: How the Trees on Summer Nights Turn into a Dark River, Barbara Crooker
2020: Ash, Tracy K. Smith
2019: Under Stars, Dorianne Laux
2018: Afterlife, Natalie Eilbert
2017: There Are Birds Here, Jamaal May
2016: Poetry, Richard Kenney
2015: Dreaming at the Ballet, Jack Gilbert
2014: Vocation, Sandra Beasley
2013: Near the Race Track, Brigit Pegeen Kelly
2012: from Ask Him, Raymond Carver
2011: Sweet Star Chisel, Dearest Flaming Crumbs in Your Beard Lord, John Rybicki
2010: Rain Travel, W.S. Merwin
2009: Goodnight, Li-Young Lee
2008: Bearhug, Michael Ondaatje
2007: Meditation at Lagunitas, Robert Hass
2006: Autumn, Rainer Maria Rilke
2005: On Turning Ten, Billy Collins

+ Today's poem: American Sonnet for the New Year, Terrance Hayes