The Wild Sonnets | Nicholas Korn

Wild Sonnets Featured Book

Wild Sonnets | Nicholas Korn — Tue, 03 Nov 2026 09:41:04 GMT

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Two selections from The Wild Sonnets: Volume VII (601-700)

Featured Video Reading: Wild Sonnet #630

Nicholas Korn has undertaken an ambitious project in his ‘Wild Sonnets’ poem sequence. It is also a surprisingly original project, given the long history of the sonnet form. Korn is highly skilled at metaphor-making, demonstrating what Aristotle once wrote of this ability in his “Poetics” — that it is the mark of genius, and the most important feature of good imaginative writing.

Korn’s work is a masterclass in poetical conceits and unfurling ideas through imagery. I highly recommend the ‘Wild Sonnets’ series by one of the leading lyric poets of our time.
– Andrew Benson Brown | Host of Classical Poets Live

In The Garden of Sphinxes

Wild Sonnets | Nicholas Korn — Sun, 01 Nov 2026 11:30:47 GMT

Hello my friends,

Over the passage of 2026, I have shifted between video series that feature my latest work or highlight the Wild Sonnets that have been published in one of the nine books. I like the energy of presenting new poems and also take pleasure in honoring individual entries in the overall collection.

And so have decided to continue both video projects under the following rubrics:

The Wild Sonnets: New and Now, which will feature the latest.
The Wild Sonnets: By the Book, which will share selections from the 900 I have published over the past 10 years.

The New and Now series will be distributed via this email channel. Both will be posted to my Substack Notes feed.

So let’s start with my video for the new Wild Sonnet #915.

I want to thank you for following me on this adventure so far.

I’ll be back next week with another video episode of The Wild Sonnets: New & Now.

Until then, stay wild and stay well.

Nicholas Korn
The Poet of The Wild Sonnets

Visit The Wild Sonnets Bookstore

Please feel free to share this with friends and other fans of literature and poetry.

The 100 First Lines from The Wild Sonnets: Volume VIII

Wild Sonnets | Nicholas Korn — Wed, 19 Aug 2026 18:00:29 GMT

With the first book in my Wild Sonnet series, I decided I would include an index of first lines in alphabetical order. I had always admired and appreciated that feature in older anthologies and collections of classical poets, and wanted to give my readers a way to quickly glance at what they would encounter in this collection of 100 new works.

That was in 2018, and I have continued the practice in the seven volumes that followed. It occurred to me recently that it might be worth sharing the index from the most recent release, The Wild Sonnets: Volume VIII (701-800). And here it is:

INDEX OF FIRST LINES I THE WILD SONNETS: VOLUME VIII (701-800)
Allow my five and reverberate senses to ring – 756
Am I not a symposium of supposition – 753
Are we not celestial and see our orbital – 739
As monumental music collecting to its close – 704
Begin, O brittle world, once more to break – 737
Between the ancients and the end there is – 702
Between the winning and weeping – a triumph – 715
Breathe your fire and be the dragon of – 785
Carve out whatever crevice your insistence – 722
Catastrophe – the spilled ink of history – 761
Chrysalis and cage, the wet soup of my liquid – 746
Consider then there is a keeper of keys – 736
Do not you hear the daylight laughing – 799
Does it not splinter in the heart to lose – 760
Does not this teeming green grow enough – 733
Each of us in the brash and brightness of day – 763
Every river has its own and singular song – 788
Full moon tonight and I feel it deep – 780
Hear in this the prosody of particles – 741
How many bolted and unnumbered times – 713
I am a citizen in the city of rain – 742
I am all at once the howling babe at birth – 798
I am already made of memory – 765
I ask not to be believed – I am not – 793
I care not for the seven categorical – 777
I consider my thoughts as a carousel – 750
I do expect that heaven is a hospital – 796
I envy the snail her spiral shell – 711
I have seen that even the deaf can dance – 774
I have this moment decided to sit – 766
I have watched devastation in her dance – 725
I know how to build from the breakage – 762
I know now what it is to fall, to feel – 731
I will not give my sword to circumstance – 754
I will roar like the mountains in the morning – 757
I would borrow no man’s thinkings – 747
If all I have can be held in the clutch – 721
Illumine where you may and lay your shadows – 714
Intuition is a lonely algebra – 768
It does not bend its iridescent arc – 720
It is that slanting hour of day to bring – 740
Kings and corners, right angles and regalia – 752
Let me haunt this body a little longer – 781
Let me learn to live in the quiet of the storm – 744
Let me look upon the dimpled stars – 795
Let me no more scan merely on the skin – 758
Let me see again the man I will be – 730
Let me wander my days as one would stray – 724
Let me wander through the darkness of – 712
Let the ache of learning come from what is lost – 726
Let the bitter go by – the confectionary – 745
Let the boil and bedlam of my breath go by – 716
Let the scene outside these painted walls – 797
Let us begin with the grave and walk – 727
Long before the language was the listening – 787
Love thrives not in the heart but in the hands – 775
Measure me at this moment’s minimum – 718
Mercy to the mountains that cannot measure – 738
My life is minted not in great amounts – 735
My sightless soul has been these seven months – 791
Need everything hammer to some prime purpose – 779
Never knew my name before the liturgy – 707
No lonelier notes than the widening sound – 784
Now is the season of the dragonfly – 789
Now the night kneels down at the slender altar – 755
Odysseus knew that after the triumph – 723
Of all the loves Olympus could provide – 751
Once I spent the night awake and waiting – 767
One cannot strike the humming hive then bid – 771
Paring or pairing, in the cutting – 732
Place all that’s mine upon the nodding – 749
Seek not for your salvation in the pointed – 794
Shuffle and shift, the deck of all my days – 782
Since I have from the labyrinth of my language – 800
Sometimes it is belief and not the battle – 709
Step outside the room of your own railing – 769
The earth has known it – two million years – 759
The harp-winged hawk that hovers and plucks – 706
The Iberian anthem of my spirit has no lyrics – 776
The nodding sea survives our crossing – 783
The quick fingers of the fiddler learn – 764
The wind has never sought me for advice – 708
There is always the choir and the crowd – 773
There is in my spirit an ache of iron – 719
These bones of mine are rattling runes – 770
This time of quiet I will claim as mine – 790
To be allowed to age is to unfold – 792
Tumult and turbine, the roar around us – 728
We are born into the fecund forest – 748
We are kindest to our own thinking and pounce – 778
We fit our faith into tomorrow mostly – 786
Were the number of wonders only eight – 701
Were we not born more capacious – 734
What care I if the earth is cold and bare – 717
What is this able and ambulatory body – 772
When busy-fingered chaos stirs through – 743
When the world without comes crowding down – 710
Why must the New Year’s beginning be – 705
With all about us now ablaze, the origami – 729
Would there were a tourniquet for time – 703

And if you are curious to read where these lines lead and land, start here.

Thanks for spending a few moments with my work. Even if it is only for a sliver of the entire 14-line compositions in this collection.

Stay wild and stay well.

Nicholas Korn
Poet of The Wild Sonnets

The Wild Sonnets Bookstore

Wild Sonnets | Nicholas Korn — Wed, 12 Aug 2026 15:10:16 GMT

“I highly recommend The Wild Sonnets series by one of the leading lyric poets of our time.” – Andrew Benson Brown of Classical Poets Live

The Wild Sonnets: Volume IX (801-900) is here!

Download the new collection of 100 Wild Sonnets here and now, and start reading and relishing the lush and lyrical verses immediately! To get things started, here is the opening poem from the new book (#801) – a numerical nod to the mythology of 9 and a celebration of finding inspiration everywhere!

To continue the experience of this new book, please download the book using the button below. Both EPUB and PDF file formats are included.

| Download $10.25 |

Download Volumes I-VIII in one complete set! The 8 books in both EPUB (for Kindle and Apple Books) and PDF formats.

| Download Volumes I-VIII $33.50 |

ABOUT THE WILD SONNETS
In 2016, I decided to commit to a literary enterprise I had been thinking about for years. Decades actually. I wanted to design a variation of the sonnet form that was uniquely mine and combined the structural elements of the classical models (Shakespearean and Petrarchan) with the vibe of contemporary verse.

I decided on a structure that divided the 14-line standard into two stanzas of 7 lines, each capped with a rhyming couplet. The 5 preceding lines would not be tied to any specific rhyme scheme, and would be allowed to flow more freely with occasional internal rhymes as they suggested themselves.

The meter would also be looser – an ambling iambic not always pent up in pentameter.

I wanted to follow the patter and pattern of Shakespearean soliloquies – start with an initial idea that flows and follows associatively though metaphor and music to realizations which land in couplets that sound conclusive, but knowingly are not.

And that is what makes these sonnets wild.

The individual paperbacks are available exclusively from BookBaby.

| Paperback $20.00 | Download $10.25 |

REVIEWS FOR THE WILD SONNETS:

| Paperback $20.00 | Download $10.25 |

Poetry That Soars
The Wild Sonnets are filled with exquisite wordplay, turns of phrase that weave, bob, lurch, sway, and surprise. The themes are rich with heart, yet universal. Need guidance from the universe? Simply thumb through the volume, pick a page, and delight at the message you will surely find therein. Volume Six has arrived. What a legacy. Well done Mr. Korn!
– Morgan G. | Trucker, Rocker & Hooligan | Kansas City, MO

Poetry That Hits Every Level
This is deeply thought-provoking poetry, and I’m continually amazed at how well-crafted it all is. He so satisfyingly connects thought and emotion in such beautiful form. “I am a pendulum without an end. On which the counting of my tears depend.”– Laura M. | Singer/Songwriter | San Antonio, TX

Fizzing and Crackling with Inspiration!
I’ve been looking forward to the next Wild Sonnets volume, and now it’s finally landed. This collection exceeds high expectations (based on previous volumes). This is fizzing and crackling with inspiration. “What elements collect to make a life…” These poems do live and breathe a lifetime of experience and reading them touches every emotion along the way. Great work! Recommended reading.
– Shem S. | Producer & Musician | Chester, UK

Everything Is Aerial, and Has Its Element of Awe
Nicholas Korn is a poet of incredible energy and verve – of process and vision. It’s truly bewildering in its scope, and still growing before our eyes. But these poems are also wild with content – dailiness, observation, philosophical insights, and a stunning sense of purpose. The language is lush, and Korn’s approach is reverential toward the history and elegance of the form, while also keeping its eyes and ears in/on the 21st Century.
– Matt Hart | Poet & Head of Writing Program – Art Academy of Cincinnati

Great Book, and Impressive Creative Project!
This book is part of an ongoing writing project. One of the most impressive and ambitious creative endeavors I know of. These sonnets talk about life, love, time, and everything we are. It is interesting how the author has kept and changed the sonnet form. They are wild and yet delicate, like a wildflower. Pick a book, then pick a sonnet. You will not regret it.
– Manuel Iris | Poet Laureate of Cincinnati (Emeritus)

Substance and Form Come Together in Beauty
Nicholas Korn brings the stuff of life into a boiling pot, contemplating the very essence of humanity. He delves into the broken heart, the loss of friendship, the healing of souls, asking and answering questions that are at our core. This is his best work yet.
– Alissa S.| Poet & Attorney | Cincinnati, OH

Verbal Art At Its Finest
In these beautiful sonnets, Mr. Korn has succeeded on multiple levels simultaneously. He makes intelligent use of the English language, delving into its wide selection of word choices to create thought-provoking lines adroitly adorned with artful alliteration, that is available in the tongue especially, perhaps more than any other. There is great joy here, ready for any reader willing to reach in and indulge.
– Stefan W. | Poet | Cincinnati OH

There are over 300 Wild Sonnets video readings on The Wild Sonnets YouTube Channel.

Visit The Wild Sonnets on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@wildsonnets.

I also have a music series called The Atomic Symphonies.
You can hear them here.

Wild Sonnets | Wall to Wall Reading | Born With Both Eyes Closed

Wild Sonnets | Nicholas Korn — Sat, 01 Aug 2026 16:18:04 GMT

Hello my friends,

This week’s selections were previously published in The Wild Sonnets: Volumes I, V, VII and VIII.

A favorite line from today’s final selection, Wild Sonnet #763:
But are we not born with both eyes closed?

For this and more, just press play.

Thanks for taking a few minutes to watch today’s video poetry reading. The books featured here are available in The Wild Sonnets Bookstore. You will also find a download that includes all 8 volumes in the series.

NEWS UPDATE: The next book, The Wild Sonnets: Volume IX (801-900), is almost complete and will be available in October.

I’ll be back next week with another video episode of The Wild Sonnets: Wall to Wall.

Until then, stay wild and stay well.

Nicholas Korn
The Poet of The Wild Sonnets

Please feel free to share this with friends and other fans of literature and poetry.

The Wild Sonnets: Wall to Wall | The Odyssey Edition

Wild Sonnets | Nicholas Korn — Sun, 26 Jul 2026 17:22:46 GMT

Hello my friends,

Over the last 10 years while writing the Wild Sonnets series, the Homeric hero Odysseus has made an appearance or two. Three actually, and in acknowledgement of the new film by Chris Nolan, it seemed a smooth move to collect and present them in this week's episode of The Wild Sonnets: Wall to Wall.

I have not yet seen the new film, but the debates are already populating the corners of the internet that concern themselves with film and matters classical. My primary takeaway is that Greek literature has managed to regain some attention in the maelstrom of modern culture, and those who appreciate art are allowing their attention to retrain on work that is over 3,000 years old.

The one aspect I am reminded of here is that the Athenian dramatists, Aeschylus, Sophocles and Euripides, reimagined, rewrote and repositioned the stories of their mythology from what had been originally presented by Hesiod and Homer, and these later became variations worthy and eligible for consideration and comment. The same may be true here.

I’ll be back next week with another video episode of The Wild Sonnets: Wall to Wall.

Until then, stay wild and stay well.

Nicholas Korn
The Poet of The Wild Sonnets

Please feel free to share this with friends and other fans of literature and poetry.

Wild Sonnets | Wall to Wall Reading | Denoted in the Dark

Wild Sonnets | Nicholas Korn — Sun, 26 Jul 2026 10:52:34 GMT

Hello my friends,

This week’s selections were previously published in The Wild Sonnets: Volumes II, III, IV and VIII. I have always been quietly proud of Wild Sonnet #175 (second poem) as it opens with an exclamation of “No” and concludes with a quiet “yes.” To experience it for yourself, just press play.

NEWS UPDATE: The next book, The Wild Sonnets: Volume IX (801-900), is almost complete and will be available in October.

I’ll be back next week with another video episode of The Wild Sonnets: Wall to Wall.

Until then, stay wild and stay well.

Nicholas Korn
The Poet of The Wild Sonnets

Please feel free to share this with friends and other fans of literature and poetry.