On a September Morning, by John C. Mannone

First Day of Light, by Lorette C. Luzajic (Canada). 2018. Click image for artist site.

On a September Morning

On the first day of my work week,
the Tuesday sun pierced through
the morning fog and lifted spirits
in the bustle of burgeoning light.
It was that time of day when tall
shadows stretch across the sky
scape—buildings cast in mauve
of morning. For a moment, they
reached high into cloudless sky.
But in the next, there was burning
ash—remains of hatred-smoulder
in the street rubble. The air, black
with blood, light hiding in soot.
When will the heavy darkness flee
as promised?

John C. Mannone
​
Author’s Notes: My impressions evolved before I even noticed the tiny inscription (near the bottom left of centre) or the figure under the inverted LIGHT (near right of centre), both of which fit well with what was going through my mind. The mood in my response was created by the grayish background and emotion-evoking colours. It wasn’t just the dawn colours of morning’s first light, it was something more morose, especially when combined to what appeared to me as hints of structures, sky scrapers and a city scape, as well as the blue-black drips reminiscent of something very dark and symbolic of blood.

​John C. Mannone has work in Artemis, Poetry South, Blue Fifth Review, New England Journal of Medicine, Peacock Journal, Gyroscope Review, Baltimore Review, Pedestal, Pirene's Fountain, and others. He’s a Jean Ritchie Fellowship winner in Appalachian literature (2017) and served as Celebrity judge for the National Federation of State Poetry Societies (2018). He has three poetry collections, including Flux Lines (Celtic Cat Publishing) forthcoming in 2018. He’s been nominated for Pushcart, Rhysling, and Best of the Net awards. He edits poetry for Abyss & Apex, Silver Blade, and Liquid Imagination. He’s a professor of physics near Knoxville, TN. http://jcmannone.wordpress.com