november blue november

a jonathan potter project

1.
mellow apricot
sky spreads out above
the hills of stevens county

a watercolor world wakes
all hallows’ morning
layer by layer

2.
my mother saw the sun
rise on her birthday morning
rise behind the gray november

veil that spanned the eastern sky
my mother stood on
the mountain and saw

3.
from gray to gray-blue
cornflower-cyan
sapphire cobalt slate stone spruce

november blue november
blues blending into
the blues the blue blues

4.
exact sunrise time
postulated in
drizzling misty mystery

fog’s gloom-gray estimation
of time’s abacus
raindrops on branches

5.
from eastern time zone
comes love’s explosion
of blood orange rose gold light

awakening the darkness
of pacific sleep
with love’s time travel

6.
between a weeping
willow and tall pine
orange sky-soup like titan’s

organonitrogen haze
sci-fi saturday
waking from strange dreams

7.
yellow on turquoise
dark horizon line
roiling clouds gentle hills trees

then becoming enormous
otherworldly peach
and plum pudding sky

8.
amid the azure
and alice blue clouds
filling the sky this morning

a golden ghost of fried egg
emerges sunny
side up and lovely

9.
redeye flight waking
orange horizon
could be another planet

the alien cityscape
river of methane
or is this philly

10.
saint lawrence river
catches the image
of this candle flame sunrise

morning drifting to the south
the sky clinging to
decreasing daylight

11.
marmalade guitar
amber-blue cloud strings
stretching to infinity

opening into music
honey-gold and bright
upon the river

12.
start at the bottom
the river’s secrets
dark blue darker skyline tells

saint joachim’s bronze bells to ring
to bid the silent
blue-gold day start here

13.
screen of trees and poles
silhouetted there
on lakeshore road a jogger

back turned on radiant beauty
pink-orange burning
dangling carrot sky

14.
pale bright scarlet veins
of pomegranate
stains on a dark blue napkin

in a billowing moment
a gold incursion
a strict horizon

15.
desultory gray
rising of the day
cormorant besprent swims by

under the gray layered sky
dives and disappears
the rain’s whispered cheers

16.
give us this day our
daily slur of sun
rising like a lonely loaf

we graze on with eyes and skin
touching each other
in the lonely light

17.
red-orange luminance
white cloudwisps wafting
above and below dark hills

calm atomic yellowing
deep breath expanding
effortless slate-blue

can sunrise be willed
no thy will does not
govern the planet’s turning

could it be the force of love
taking a deep breath
without intention

18.
saint john’s cathedral
the sun’s sentinel
pokes its pointy spying spires

up at the naked blue clouds
the gold fringed hem of
god’s skirt proclaims love

19.
no sign of sunrise
the rain it raineth
every day to quote the bard

aloof the sky refuses
these bare ruined choirs
my mind’s leafless limbs

20.
i didn’t see the sun today
but i saw a star
tonight cold and bright

i woke up but stayed
in bed at sunrise
to venture out at moonrise

21.
the sunrise has slouched
further south rough beast
but the fog comforts the hills

prodigal the ochre sun
behind the mountains
marigold the clouds

22.
standing in the street
looking southeastward
sunrise time but clouds are thick

but falcon and falconer
tell me it’s right there
slouching toward solstice

23.
river railroad bridge
rolling sunrise clouds
this train ain’t bound for glory

but still the smothered sunrise
hints at beautiful
blue dreams and journeys

24.
train crossing river
sun rising without
intending to turns the sky

and its reflection
into something never
seen until this moment

25.
thanksgiving morning
on the great river
railroad bridge like a zipper

binding the searing beauty
of the rose-gold sky
to watery earth

26.
hephaestus rises
forging molten gold
on the eastern horizon

above my alma mater
my great grandfather
smiling down on me

27.
mirror of river
grasps at burnished bronze
angelic yellow garment

pink threads of fire cobalt blue
wielding a flaming
sword to kindle day

28.
guests of the sunrise
trespassing to see
the unnameable colours

gaudily manifesting
neon banana
alien lava

29.
eighteen sunrises
viewed from steptoe butte
each year in my mind

since the day that you were born
and the world became
stunningly lovely

30.
end of november
cold aquamarine
watery cobalt serene

early morning clouds swimming
above seabottom
hills sunken city