Sonnet for the Self Before I can welcome you, I must know what made you, my person, so despise me. Remember, we were born perfect, with skin like warm wax, a tongue that knew its own mouth, and you rejoiced in our union before language and shame converged. Then like a young octopus you jutted off to seek a safer disguise while I waited for you. Please understand, we cannot be strangers; I am you and you are me, no matter how badly you wish it were otherwise. The peace you seek is here inside this skin, so before it’s too late, come home where you belong, where everything you need awaits.
Lynn Glicklich Cohen has been published in Amelia, Brushfire Literature
and Arts Journal, Cantos, El Portal, Oberon Poetry Magazine, Peregrine,
The Phoenix, SLAB, Spotlong Review, St. Katherine’s Review, Swamp Ape
Review, Thin Air Magazine, and Trampoline. Her novel, A Terrible Case of
Beauty, was published by Trebol Press in 2013.
Amethyst Review 