April 23, 2001

• Have you ever seen a sunset?

  I woke up with the phrase “Have you ever seen a sunset?” floating through my sleep clogged mind. I don’t know where it came from, but I thought it would make a great poem title. Unfortunately, the title was the only part of the work that sleep bestowed upon me.

  I came up with a poem to go with the title while I was at work. (I’m a bank teller in a small town so I have plenty of time to write poetry on scraps of paper and stuff them in my pockets.)

  I read or heard once that a poet is someone who can present an everyday thing or occurence in a new light. I hope the light of my sunset is not distressing to anyone.

  ***

  “Have You Ever Seen a Sunset?”

  Have you ever seen a sunset

  Curdling the evening sky?

  The open wound of another

  Day’s Death?

  Multi-hued clouds putrifying

  In the somber red glow

  Of the glaring eye of the sun,

  Its dire fires dimmed

  By the cold, dark rim of the Earth?

  *

  Violet clouds, waves washing outward;

  The sky dulled to the dim hues

  Of an ever present star flecked

  Night sky?

  Like the dusty hem of the sun’s

  Chilled cloak pulled close after,

  The glow of the rosy sun falls

  From the cold Earth

  Unmasking Night, there all along.

  • 8:17 pm
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