“Cosplay Girl”
a sonnet
A note on form: this sonnet is another attempt of mine at a variation on poetic form. Because so many of these costumes are based on superheroes, video game characters, or other traditional fighting figures, I wrote this sonnet in heroic verse, using rhyming couplets throughout. Of course, rhyming couplets aren’t really the standard for sonnet form: stanzas usually rhyme a-b-a-b or a-b-b-a and then close with a rhyming couplet. Because I used rhyming couplets throughout, I completely inverted the rhyme order by closing with a cross-rhymed quatrain, ending with a pair of alexandrines. It turned out a bit weird, but I think I like it.
Cosplay Girl
A pinkish pleated ninja, princess nerf,
her sword in hand, protecting sacred turf--
a badass hero mistress, or a punked
out fantasy in black, a slender funk
enchantress maid, a cutey kigurumi:
I cannot see through for the life of me
her multitude of selves; she stares upon
the world, her stage, her face a lovely koan,
a puzzle that's delighting me, the mys-
tery of play, forgotten dance of innocence
and joy on April days. The loss of self
in other now consumes my waking thought:
what if the answer's nothing more than this, my delf,
my prize: I've found the one for whom I've ever sought.