The Dark Inside the Light, by Peter Mitchell

The Dark Inside the Light 
 
 There is dark inside the light.
 
The crows are storm-black eye-brows. 
              Their wings fly as frowns across the roiling-yellow Wheatfield.
Are they flying towards a new horizon? 
                                     Or are they winging away from the inescapable 
                                                                                                                               dark?
 
In the troubled sky, the Prussian blue 
                                                    broods
                                                    as your urgent brush-strokes quickened
                           an apocalypse of thoughts.  
               The blue-light clouds are two clenched fists & 
                           burst through 
                                         the line of wheat and cataclysm. 
                                  Dear Vincent, 
                                        these unknown threats knuckle towards 
                                                                                            you.
 
The twig-thin wheat! Your thumb, index and middle fingers 
propelled the brush across the canvas in 
short, sharp movements 
                          as if dipping a twig in a pot 
                          of chrome or 
                          cadmium yellow;
                          as if visions moved  you across the 
                          dome of turmoil.
 
Are these your dreams’ screams & squalls?
                           Or are you painting a utopia 
                                                                   of forgetfulness
            away from 
                                       death’s oblivion?*
 
Peter Mitchell

*Seventeen days after van Gogh completed Wheatfield with Crows, he shot himself in the same field.

Peter Mitchell is the author of the poetry chapbooks, Conspiracy of Skin (Ginninderra Press, 2018) & The Scarlet Moment (Picaro Press, 2009). Living in Bundjalung Country (Lismore, NSW), he writes poetry, memoir, short fiction, essays & literary criticism. Conspiracy of Skin was awarded a Highly Commended in the prestigious 2019 Wesley Michel Wright Prize for Poetry & his poetry has appeared in Verity La, The Blue Nib (Ireland) & Soft Blow (Singapore), among others. His first full poetry collection, The Loam of Memory seeks a publisher. His website is www.petermitchellwriter.com.au.