Geordie de Boer

TROUBLE DESCRIBING COLOR

Regard a Kansas sunrise

sagging with rain

clotted with bits of gloom.

What color consumes the cast-

over sky? Frost-bitten bird’s-foot

clover? Rotted concrete? Sweet

leadplant’s ruined blooms? 

Words aren’t oils and paper’s

a poor canvas. Better to paint

the faint blush of morning,

write how the thrush’s

first thrill turns to mourning

for the cloud-cloaked day

and night’s on-coming shroud.