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Title:       American Sonnet 
Date:        2024-04-27
Link:        https://spool-five.com/poetry/2024_apr27_sonnet/
Word Count:  178
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> Today we’d like to challenge you to write an “American sonnet.” What’s
> that? Well, it’s like a regular sonnet but . . . fewer rules? Like a
> traditional Spencerian or Shakespearean sonnet, an American sonnet is
> shortish (generally 14 lines, but not necessarily!), discursive, and
> tends to end with a bang, but there’s no need to have a rhyme scheme or
> even a specific meter.

The voice and the machine

She spoke in a broken voice finely
He held the microphone next to her for fifteen minutes
A small sacrifice compared to the million big and little
obstacles she was forced to face every day
Many voices of people disabled by the rest of us
Were heard over the course of the hearing
Organised in wonderful solidarity
True altruism, a recognition of shared goals

When the government people spoke
They spoke of thier own organisational needs
In many voices, clanging together awkwardly
Trying to squeeze their little agendas into something resembling a strategy 
The irony of a well-organised diversity, asking for recognition
From a patchwork-machine