02 February 2025

#2 - RED

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


Image via unsplash.com


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