This year, I decided to use the colours in a traditional rainbow as the inspiration for my seven sonnets. While I am aware that spectral light is more complicated than ROY G BIV, I think focusing on these seven will yield some interesting ideas for poetry. This is the first poem, and I think the colour chosen is obvious.
Red Sky At Night
The prism splits a humble beam of light,
and colours manifest like sorcery.
The streak of scarlet, clotting, bold and bright,
as potent as the raging, wine-dark sea.
Our past, in ochre, painted at Lascaux;
or cartoon-hearted oaths to prove our thirst;
the Rayleigh scattering of skies aglow
delighting shepherds as their flocks disperse.
The gore that blooms from every slasher flick;
the thrill of claret spilled to seal the deal.
A Rothko reimagined with a click:
invention wrought in vivid cochineal.
A shade that blossoms, bloody, from the air,
she takes the idle viewer unawares.
LM
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| Image via unsplash.com |
