4 Sonnets//William J. Joel
Sonnet for the traveler
“Only he that has traveled the road
knows where the holes are deep”
Chinese Proverb
Inside the room he found a single book
and opened to the page that someone dog-
eared. Sitting in the only chair, he took
his glasses from his pocket, watched a log
dissolve to cinders, thankful someone knew
enough to set a fire, spreading heat
on days like this, when bowls of steaming stew
were not enough to thaw one’s bones, or meet
the winds head-on, and send them running, tails
between their legs. Thank god the sun had not
yet left, had stayed and let the day prevail,
had not conceded to the darkened pot
called night that swallows all one’s hopes and dreams
replacing them with doubt and empty schemes.
Sonnet full of politics
Oh, hear the winds of winter’s furies blow,
while voices rise to praise the season’s change
as if with ayes they think they’ll rearrange
the current tenor of the status quo.
But sounder minds than theirs are sure to know
that whims and fads that to us seem so strange
are but illusions cast to hide the mange,
mere salves to grease a mindless to and fro.
Yet if we choose to rise up from our sleep,
and listen closely not just simply hear,
we’ll find the truths that beckon year to year:
no issue in our path too wide, too steep,
nor feeding into vague outrageous fear;
our generation’s lessons ours to keep
Sonnet for love together
“Life has taught us that love does not consist in gazing at each other,
but in looking outward together in the same direction”
Antoine de Saint-Exupery
I often ask, do you still love me, not
because I think it isn’t true, but more
so as an anchor in my life besot
with problems dangling overhead. Before
you answer, take a moment, take a breath
and think of all the struggles we have borne
together, every challenge meant to test
our mettle. Think on how the love we’ve worn
has shielded us, to yield a space within
which we have flourished, even though the world
beyond can sometimes make a poor soul spin,
like drying leaves that winds can lift and hurl.
So, take your time. I’m satisfied to while
away the minutes dwelling on your smile.
Sonnet for a looker
“Character contributes to beauty.
It fortifies a woman as her youth fades.”
Jacqueline Bisset
My Dad once said, that if he ceased to look
at pretty girls, that meant he must be dead,
and bless him, till the day he passed, he took
his turn at staring, looking over, head
to toe, each comely lass that crossed his path.
And no, he never had a “dirty mind”;
he simply was a man who’d often laugh
at other guys who said that when they find
themselves intent upon a curvy shape,
they’d slap their brows and swear that that was not
what they were doing. They would never gape
at women, so they said. But they forgot
that looking on in admiration meant
that there was life that they had not yet spent.
All things are connected. That's the premise of what William J. Joel does. Each of Mr. Joel's interests informs each other. Mr. Joel has been teaching computer science since 1983 and has been a writer even longer. His works have recently appeared in Common Ground Review, DASH Literary Journal, The Blend International, Liminality, and North Dakota Quarterly.