Ekphrastic Sestina
Early Sunday Morning
We will speak about the shadows
Published in
2 min read4 days ago
Shapes
in light
make shadow.
Shadows speak.
Colors become buildings.
The storefronts are stories.
The barber pole? A story.
Window shapes,
water plugs, curbs built
by suggestive light.
We will speak
about the shadows,
Those long shadows,
lines I’ve been unable to take my story
across. Like in a folk tale, they speak
a warning. What shapes
lie behind low eastern sunlight?
What omens are built
into these buildings?
The shadows
are all over them, and the lights.
How does my story
figure in? Why do I love these shapes
when it is loneliness they speak?
Often, we speak
stories into church buildings,
sacred shapes
or the shadows
in forest groves. “Wrong stories,”
I say, “Don’t confuse morning light
