SPORK PRESS
sporklet 12
Dorothy Chan

Editor’s Note: A Triple Sonnet in Prose

     I

 

            I write about food, sex, and fantasies.

My poetry is immediacy: we all have

            our thing, the little tease that gets us going.

That sounds sensual. That’s the point, because

            when writing’s great, it’s orgasmic, like sneaking

off with a lover to the corner booth of a bar

            in [Insert your favorite city here, let the mind

run wild—I’d choose Tokyo. Or Las Vegas,

            because I can be tacky], and writing can feel

like dancing with five people at once, or grinding

            until your top comes off—or eating sashimi off

a lover’s body. What I’m trying to say is it’s all

            about release—or as Lyrae says, the sonnet

is a box of tension and release—write to get out.

 

 

     II

 

In the above, I’m only speaking for myself

            and my own writing, but I might as well share

my motivations. And these motivations

            of writing may or may not intersect with

motivations of reading—let’s be clear.

            In curating, there’s a million directions one

can go, or as Mary Ruefle implies, the greatest

            element of poetry is surprise. See what I did?

I ended up rhyming. It was internal.

            But I still wasn’t supposed to do that.

Surprise. Curating this set of 23 authors

            is one of the things that’s brought me joy

during this time. Or it’s like one of those

            Youtube unboxing videos: What’s next? What’s next?

 

 

     III.

 

            Dear Reader, I want you to feel surprise,

not Surprise!, as in Happy Birthday!

            but Surprise! as in the multiple voltas

of a damn good poem that make you

            yearn for more, go in a round, back to

the beginning of the piece. And my dear

            friend and poet I love, Nabila Lovelace

says my triple sonnet is like Tonya Harding’s

            triple axel, and I cry for you, Tonya. I cry.

We all have our thing. And Dear Reader,

            I want you to spot the surprise in each of

these 23. Dear Drew, Dear Richard, thanks

            for giving me this August space to curate.

Dear Reader, it’s time to play hopscotch.