[Cupid laid by his brand, and fell asleep]

bleed bull (lip, hair, spine)—sad candy fad—
anon, i shave a dad, dig a staff into mud,
stir daddylevel dick in hole—figpink sequin
froth—an idol (lunate god of ivy, cunt, anal,
riverdoes, holy bitchwolf, form)—oh whir of
illustrative land—oh sedate eyes, tell
nothing, deny map—chew he-twig, ash, vertebrae—
sugaring arc edges, a violet sea—trans (anime
-obsessed, arty, sad)—rim me wifely—event: burnt
bone ritual—subtlety of cherrymood swathed
with kerchief, hide, beads—at hilltops
a teeming depth—triad sheds dust—i : a herd
of unfortunate deer—oh my hipbells—butch
fists me cerise—honeysmut grew dewy, ripe.

Notes:

These poems, what I call “divinations,” were created with the assistance of an online anagramming tool and the source text of Shakespeare’s 154 sonnets. The first line of the corresponding Shakespearean sonnet is borrowed as the title for each divination. The rule I set was to anagram line by line, so each line of the divination has all the same letters as the corresponding line in the Shakespearean sonnet.

Source: Poetry (October 2022)