a jonathan potter project
1.
radio towers rising
in distant foreground
orange sky bruised clouds
aftermath of last night’s storm
pine limbs dangle down
into soft darkness
2.
this phenomenon
of the sun rising
tears open the eastern sky
even if obscured
by the horizon of sleep
or the day’s darkness
3.
sunrise on game day
the sun a fiery ball
blazing from the east
god throwing a curve
across reality’s plate
and the day’s at bat
4.
canal bordering
my mother’s backyard
snakes towards the rising sun
thumb-smear of orange horizon
inkblot trees ghost clouds
gravel road ready
5.
sky salmon spawning
vermilion moments
ponderous deep lavenders
reality bearing down
imagination
lifting up the sky
6.
morning pink and pale
pauses to wake up
contemplating the meaning
of the dream before waking
driving the wrong way
down a one-way street
7.
garbage day dawning
the sun hidden like the week’s
discarded debris
behind the residential
slumbering malaise
faintly peach to blue
8.
orange reptilian eye
burning through the pines
this early autumn
sunrise from the highest point
i could find at hand
crawling out of sleep
9.
memory of trees
darkening up the mountains
hills like ocean waves
the city below
people opening their eyes
an orange turning
10.
overcast autumn
cloudshapes form an eye
or mouth’s ambiguous lips
masking the sunrise drama
as reality
comes up behind me
11.
airport sunrise through
the glossy glass of
half past seven’s fluorescent
rectangles’ tangle with the
underlying sky
i’m about to fly
12.
jet lag bronze meringue
morning’s calm glowing
debussy blue-film distance
layer on layer lighting
the thought of dreaming
of coffee and cream
13.
beaconsfield backyard
tree creatures greeting
the golden island rising
from earth’s insistent turning
from last night’s gloaming
this rose-mauve morning
14.
the veil of the sky
horizons river
mutes the unbrazen sunrise
unheralded by trumpets
ducks swim languidly
near the lapping shore
15.
astronomy tells
me the sun rose this morning
while i was sleeping
i take the sunrise on faith
the grey morning dull
the sky unscripted
16.
hunting the sunrise
over saint joachim
the sky as god’s cast-off thought
on the day of rest
the sky as a placebo
for work’s medicine
17.
the clouds are keepers
of the buoyant secrets
of the morning’s silent bells
mount royal lookout rises
above the city
breathes crimson questions
18.
what is the color
of morning itself
green dark-green light-green yellow
luminescent bright-fringed shades
of lavandula
pink-white hints of red
19.
rising with the horizon
flying away from
the morning being
borne on nothing but
air which is a kind
of nothing that is something
20.
planets turn suns rise
clouds hills trees mountains
converse in color-tinged tongues
somber ocean-gorgeous
tangerine language
tastes reality
21.
cathedral tower
where humans climb stone
gold-railed steps to the golden
sky enjambed with particles
and waves of searing
syllables of light
22.
god spoke from the clouds
the universe spoke
you yourself spoke marigold
luminous amber mumbles
breathing enormous
breaths of thought and love
23.
jackolantern cloud
october’s charm turns
dismal dismally charming
candle sun struggling wick
blue on blue on blue
trees suggest christmas
24.
before the sunrise
i open one eye
glance at the sliver of faint light
at the edge of the
closed window curtain
resume sleep dream the same scene
25.
cobalt autumnblue
umbilical cloud
cerulean slow fury
lamppost lastleaf powerline
smokestack freewayscape
darkhope beginning
26.
morning tells orange
secrets to blue sky
with goldfringed inuendo
foretells the day’s falling leaves
prospect of early
sunset and slumber
27.
wallowa mountains
look up look up a message
drifts in drifting wisps
of morning’s inscape
of migrant cloudshapes’ shifting
dim dazzling light
28.
like dante i put
one foot over the
other for some hard climbing
up out of confusion to
the moraine ridgetop
to see the sun rise
29.
morning gathers grey
debts and spreadsheets them
above money-colored trees
grey makes rain earn a living
sky a blank check no
daylight in savings
30.
what does the sunrise
mean just the turning
of blind mechanical forces
resulting in a beautiful
orange accident
blessing our nothing
31.
silhouette of trees
against a pale cantaloupe
sky slowly turning
bright with distant light
as the sun rises below
beyond direct sight
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