Nocturnal Scenes From an Apparition, by Janina Aza Karpinska

© Tom Hammick. All Rights Reserved 2020/ Bridgeman Images. Click image for artist site.

Nocturnal Scenes From an Apparition

She remembers being taken, as a child, to a Colour Circus at night,
where Fauvists bred with Outsiders, seemingly taming chaos
(though wildness always bled out, and lingered –
as sure as a turmeric kiss on white canvas). Here

colours defied gravity with breathtaking ease -
to float, shimmer, and sweep through the air like trapeze artistes;
where trees kept the aura of day in extended arms -
drawing in dusk like a catch in their nets:
a mackerel sky of rainbow scales - playing 
sweet, light, melodies as though with a flute -
lifting the heavy cover of night with a peacock feather.

The Circus played on in her mind, for years ever after:
displays of implausible gaudiness that made her gasp, 
and laugh at her fears.

​Janina Aza Karpinska

Janina Aza Karpinska is an Artist-Poet who lives on the south coast of England. She has an M.A. in Creative Writing & Personal Development & Foundation in Fine Art, Chelsea College of Art & Design. Her work has been published in several anthologies & magazines including The Third Way, Chichester Magazine, Psychopoetica, and Pandora's Books amongst others; and exhibited in several locations around Britain.