Impressions of the City at Sunrise

by Carol Frost

Streak of yellow oblong of pink
riff of aluminum red in river
vertical blues and grays
and barges that may as well have set out
from kingdom come in haze
now baskets of red and yellow flowers
with candles in the river eddies
now molten now
yellow stumbling onto wharves
onto the street
while one transit officer ducks into the dark
and knell of a subway staircase
while another is lit through by day
more and more perilous
as if time plotted
bargained new coins minted
morning peering in
at the solitary and unaware
then in sudden vowel
a flame a cry a tableau
early morning in bedclothes
nothing of the night before
centuries couldn’t guess
or be tempted by or long after
after it has gone away.

Published on November 19, 2015