Smudge

Christopher Barnes

"I often think that the night is more alive
and richly coloured
than the say." Vincent Van Gogh

Starlight is a dye of red bugs,
mandarins in the crock
are forget-me-not blue
and the buttercups whitewashed roses.

I scowl at the bed's shadowing
then, imprison my eyes for a purply tide
unblocking to find a tinkered-with site.

Vivette picks up the pieces
of this night, a slur or red, blue and white
with tipples and Brie,
she lints pea-green from the window.

An odd-stick woman
who seems to tackle chores without meaning.

---

Christopher Barnes lives in England.