i want to build you castles of words,
letters looping into stairs & banisters –
standing up billboards of breath
in a sleepless city lit by commas &
question marks. i want to sprinkle consonants
into your dreams & i want you to wake up with poetry
under your tongue. i’ll soften all the vowels
that dewdrop on the roses & i’ll sculpt
the adjectives into a vehicle
to the extraordinary. my fingers
may be feeble & my heart may spin
rambling novels before it’s through,
but i’ll keep restacking these bricks
and trimming these topiaries
until every last syllable
comes out right.
Sarah Marchant is a writer, poetry editor, and literary enthusiast living in St. Louis.
