Chiaroscuro

First thought is best in Art, second in other matters. William Blake

Photo by Andrea Ferrario on Unsplash

Crush colours, a palette on a cross, flip textures into the tones of the bones, Tom-All-Alone’s home in the Rookeries* sudden, dizzying perspective on slums a rule of thumb, conditioned by slime.

A point of view will not do it for you so sweep the litter far away, that awful day’s circumstances conspire to a bitter end carrying my boy’s body into the mortuary.

A swirl of a thumb or a brush with a stroke will choke me up, again and again, an oily chiaroscuro, a debt that I choose to pay, declining the light for his a no-wedding day the vaulted sky a swirling painted sky, a long goodbye.

Rows of cirrocumulus clouds flash me by an undulating ripple of waves do not save me dappled sunlight on the headstone of his little grave.

• • A Rookery denoted overcrowded, filthy slum housing in 19th-century British cities, especially London. Famous London rookeries included St. Giles, Saffron Hill, and Jacob’s Island, which were often considered dens for thieves and vagabonds by contemporary authorities.

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