This sonnet slides (as if along “goose-down”) over a prosody as rhythmic, natural and warm as a nod. The half-shy sentiment is wrought with tender, technical precision. A wondrous mystery opens as the ABABBCC rhyme scheme of the stanzas shifts in the final couplet. A melancholy volta. It is as if there is no rhyme for “this pain-in-the-heart.” Selected by Terrance Hayes
Terrance Hayes is the author of five collections of poetry, most recently “How to Be Drawn,” a finalist for the National Book Award in 2015. His fourth collection, “Lighthead,” won the 2010 National Book Award. Kayo Chingonyi was born in Zambia in 1987 and moved to the United Kingdom when he was 6. His debut collection, “Kumukanda,” was published last year by Chatto & Windus.
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