In 2011, Sonia Farmer placed joint first place in the Small Axe Literary Competition in poetry. The winning poems, now part of her first full length poetry collection, Infidelities, (Poinciana Paper Press, 2017), were shared in SX 38:07.2012.

A LETTER FROM PARADISE

A dilapidated greenhouse lies
in the frame of my window.
Inside, bushes of white hibiscus
come forward each day. The morning
unfurls them, spilling cream,
white hands opening to whiter palms,
to blood-red centers. These
small fires alight, burn brilliant
white holes through my retina, through
the day, spots that do not out.
The evening does not bring
a closing. No, we will know
what we have lost. Each corolla drops
to the evening ground. What’s done
will not be undone. You wanted
to know: That
is how each day passes here.