Winning Poem, Halloween Sonnet Contest: Magical Thinking, Coleman Glenn
Coleman Glenn lives in Bryn Athyn, PA with his wife and their six kids. His poems have appeared in Light, Autumn Sky Poetry Daily, Blue Unicorn, THINK, and other publications. His first collection, A Little Light (2024), is available from Amazon in both the United States and Canada.
Magical Thinking
At
nine, I knew that I could use the force
to tap into the universe’s flow
and nudge a floating object off its course
or sense a stranger’s mental undertow.
With passing years such fluid powers waned
as oceanic childhood shrank to youth
and surety of wish-fulfillment drained,
revealing rocky hollows of the truth:
we’re made of matter — severed flesh goes rotten;
someday a person I can’t live without will die;
when I go, I’ll be casually forgotten.
These facts remain, unmoved, severe and dry.
Some few stray swirling fantasies survive:
Existence is. A child is born alive.
to tap into the universe’s flow
and nudge a floating object off its course
or sense a stranger’s mental undertow.
With passing years such fluid powers waned
as oceanic childhood shrank to youth
and surety of wish-fulfillment drained,
revealing rocky hollows of the truth:
we’re made of matter — severed flesh goes rotten;
someday a person I can’t live without will die;
when I go, I’ll be casually forgotten.
These facts remain, unmoved, severe and dry.
Some few stray swirling fantasies survive:
Existence is. A child is born alive.
Formally, emotionally perfect. Love the downward arc and saving couplet. Thanks!
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