drawing in of a sunset

soft frozen frame
slow-motion explosion
wisps and rays in synchronous flare
angel-wing mist amberly creeping
in a glacier-fast jettison
over stale-blood mahoganies, full tired violets, deceased navies
silhouetted broken toothed shoreline
a holy volcanic-glow filling
the tight hanging cloudline
lifting up an eccentric snaking gray

a gull, primordial black from my vantage
alights onto a rock as dark

the horizon shifts unnoticeably

momentarily feather and stone merge
a geometrically awkward natural unity
pulse of vein and water

into oblong bands of ochre, jaundice, and mountain
now like thick strips of bright burning kleenex
calm wetness ripples crimson
in response

the bird now gone

crisp salty breeze warms my skin
and i smile

summer 1999