A Poem by Sophia Dahlin

Author: Poetry Editor

August 9, 2016

This week, a poem by Sophia Dahlin.

IN DEFENSE OF MUFFIN

I have lived at home and am ready
again to take up that
mantle of fantastic privilege
if all our differences are cliffs
it’s better
to be brave than right       probably
over time
I learn to take up space with hair
share opinions and I’m told
I’m defensive then to defend
that       that what I said
wasn’t a response it just
came second no one asked it
it arrived just as you arrived
but who is my opinion to complain?
I’m alive I have beautiful legs
and I’ve never worked at all
my thoughts
are free like ducks
in the park provided       I could die
anytime unsolicited it would be hard
to stop me           who are you and I
to leave a difference in one
another? It is just that we are free
so to know what to take down
from the day is a begot skill
we had to invent surfaces
to get busy I am so busy with you
so you draw me
up from where I sink
when I want
where the pond averages green
I have bobbed in it
and my brain’s made more snaps
readier
for the prism happening in that
wow that water in the sky

——

SOPHIA DAHLIN is a poet who lives in Philadelphia now. Her poetry has appeared in BOMB, The Awl, Poor Claudia, and other places. Her collaborations with Davy Knittle have appeared in Eleven Eleven and are forthcoming in HOLD: a Journal.