Sonnet IV: (verbs)

If I…

  1. did not
    describe my heart, how it
    yearns for you, how it
  2. quickens at every
    sight of you, every instant when I first
    hear your voice, if I
  3. did not
    write of how it
    races when you
  4. come near, that it
    has
    skipped when you
  5. have
    touched me, that it
    pounds with the
  6. expectation of your
    touch, every
    beat so hard that it
  7. shakes my body enough for you to
    see, if I
    chose to
  8. keep the secret of its quiet rhythm in the morning when I
    wake, how long I
    have
  9. lain, quietly
    amazed as our hearts
    beat in perfect
  10. synchrony, that I
    wondered how many minutes
    would
  11. pass before their rhythms
    diverged, every word
    withheld as I
  12. lay down my pen and
    lock it
    away with its barren white sheets, if I
  13. swore not to
    describe my heart,
    would it
  14. stop
    beating
    forever?

This sonnet is part of a short sequence; click here to read it all:

Part 4: (verbs)

I thought the following would be an interesting form of analysis.  What would happen, I wondered, if I picked out all or most of the verb/verb-like structures and began each line with them?  How many would there be, and what form would begin to unfold?  Strangely Triadic line more or less suggests itself.  Not of the form I originally showed but still this exercise generates 14 verses, and it might start to become clear that I tend to subconsciously “think in sonnets.”  I wasn’t aware originally that some of these types of patterns would arise, but it seems as though they have.

Have a look and see if this helps you understand the words any better.  What does one think of when one sees such lines?  It is curious that many of the lines appear to look and sound like a certain variety of 20 century poetry; wherein one often sees lines beginning and ending in odd spots–possibly to create tension, and possibly for some other reason–or even no reason at all.