"Sonnet for Myself" by Sara Backer

Sonnet for Myself

I was an outdoor girl. I pulled carrots
from the garden, ate birch buds
and tangy weeds. Bumblebees landed
on my hand. I stroked their soft backs.
I waded brooks, swam murky ponds,
found wood lilies and huckleberries.
I knew where white violets grew
and where the song sparrow nested.

I didn’t learn what other children
learned in school. When the yellow
bus emptied, I hid behind oak trees
while they threw rocks at me.
Granite, hematite, quartz. I felt sorry
for them—the rocks. I held them close.

sara backer

Sara Backer’s first book of poetry, Such Luck, follows two chapbooks: Scavenger Hunt and Bicycle Lotus, which won the Turtle Island Chapbook Award. Her honors include a prize in the Plough Poetry Competition, nine Pushcart nominations, and fellowships from the Norton Island and Djerassi resident artist programs. Recent publications include Lake Effect, Slant, CutBank Online, Poetry Northwest, and Kenyon Review. She currently lives in New Hampshire and reads for The Maine Review.

Headshot: Bryan Pfeiffer

Photo Credit: Staff