Sonnet for the Dreamers Craving Sleep: A Sonnet by Janna Miller

Poetry / By Janna Miller / January 12, 2025 / 1 minute of reading

Trees with green leaves with sunlight peeking through them — Photo by Janna Miller

Sonnet for the Dreamers Craving Sleep

Thrown knucklebones outside the opera house,

Make bets on lines that horses never run.

All sober gap-toothed grins that don’t espouse,

But simmer underneath the midnight sun.

We follow fault-lines in the gritty road,

To fertile fields of asphalt-growing flowers.

Small words of wonder said in mummer’s code,

Release our quiet song to moonlit hour.

See unsolved fragments sifting into place,

While others shirk and turn away too soon?

Long shadowed bones show beauty’s angled face,

Reflected in the silver backs of spoons:

A transformation known but never seen,

Vestigial fingers itching into wings.

About The Author

Janna Miller

Librarian, mother, and minor trickster, Janna has published in SmokeLong Quarterly, Shenandoah, Whale Road Review, Citron Review, Best Microfiction, and others. Her story collection, All Lovers Burn at the End of the World was published in late 2024 from ELJ Editions. Generally, if the car runs out of gas, it is not her fault. You can find her @ScibblerMiller in most places.