[Poem-a-Week] Unholy Sonnet by Beverly Burch

Some days it’s all effluvia and blood soak. 
Some days tongues speak so dirty they need soaping. 
Sweet tumescent tissues beg for transgression. Ignorant of prayer, 
the body croons, it wanders over the ridge, eyes grazing 
on lupine, poppies. What a vehicle, this delectable flesh, 
a shape-shifting carriage for distracted souls. What a vessel, 
canvas wailing for its paint. What a pail of slop, what a culvert. 
Sea surge tosses salt into lungs, brines the body’s juices. 
Flesh bends thinking one way, heart another. 
They arrive at the same place, puffing like an old bellows, 
recalling spring clouds of jasmine, wisteria. 
Body never quite makes it to heaven. A handful of ashes, 
homesick, scattered in the desert. Or silent in the boneyard, 
unholy tissues offered to grateful larvae. Still, a song.



*first published in The Laurel Review

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Beverly Burch has four poetry collections, most recently Leave Me a Little Want (Terrapin Books), and two nonfiction books. Her work won the John Ciardi Prize, a Lambda Literary Award, and a Gival Poetry Prize and was a finalist for Audre Lorde Award. Her fiction and poetry have appeared in New England Review, Gulf Coast, Southern Review, Denver Quarterly, and Los Angeles Review. www.beverlyburch.com

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