Introduction to the Sonnets
by Jennifer Hyde

      
      
Cassandra, you are thinking
about Salome in German,
and brief scents of lavender in winter
blossoming in snowflakes--
they rested on your hair in San Juan Capistrano
when it was too warm for goose down; too cold for swallows,
And cookie crumble at the corners of your mouth:
a dainty formation of paisley luncheon napkins
To accommodate sneaky bites--
sixteen ladylike gulps of chocolate covered turtle eggs
(the shells coated in green for winter, pinked in the fall)
When the rusted leaves blankets a blue-sky picnic
when we might feast on the dried skins of roasted duck,
maybe push someone underwater for a short time