Summer in the City

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from the ABC set Rigel's Poems

A sanguine sky
frowns down
on the City
this morning...
fingers of flame –
a dance macabre
on coruscating glass
of Bishopsgate
and Heron Towers.

Cimmerian shadows
lurk in the square
along Devonshire Row,
where black brogues
grubby, grey trainers
steel-tipped stilettos
lumber past
in a day-weary
dogged procession.

The body of a bird
lies – forlorn;
beak – bloodied,
broken; neck,
contorted...
feathers matted
with dried blood.

Festering holes
where eyes once were –
look straight through
to heaven; a murder
of crows knows
no decency, has no
sense of compunction.

A sanguine sky
frowns down
on the City
this morning...
and no one heeded;
no one saw
the pigeon
by the road.

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Comments

jolono | July 10, 2012 - 12:29

You've got to stop doing this Rigel you're making us all look very "ordinary"...... Briliant as ever!

lenchenelf | July 10, 2012 - 12:32

Yes, I'm rather fond of a sanguine sky in summer.

L x

Denzella | July 10, 2012 - 14:43

Rigel,

You've just gone and done it again! Jolono's right and I've just come away from one of his poems which I thought was brilliant.

Moya

fatboy74 | July 10, 2012 - 16:45

This is a very good poem and I don't like to disagree with Lena who is fab - but sanguine sky is a bit hackneyed and you are a better writer than that. But hey, it's just an opinion. Well done on the cherries.

lenchenelf | July 10, 2012 - 16:55

Ahem! :-)

seashore | July 10, 2012 - 18:50

Your command of language is amazing - I need a dictionary at hand when reading your work. Another gem.

Rigel | July 10, 2012 - 18:52

Thank you, jolono. Very much.

Rigel | July 10, 2012 - 18:53

Hi there, L.

Nothing like a sanguine sky...as you say.

R x

Rigel | July 10, 2012 - 18:59

And hello to you, fb.

Pleased it pleased you.

As to 'sanguine'...'hackneyed' or not, as the case may be, I used it deliberately because of its connations. I.e. 'of or pertaining to blood'. But as you say, we are all entitled to our opinions. A dull world indeed, if we were not.

Many thanks for taking the trouble to read and for your thoughts, and I look forward to catching up with some of your work, which, on first sight, looks outstanding.

Rigel

Rigel | July 10, 2012 - 19:01

Hello there, seashore. I need a dictionary most of the time as well;-) Plus a thumping good thesaurus. Don't we all?

Pleased you liked it so much, and many thanks for letting me know.

Rigel

Rigel | July 10, 2012 - 19:03

Good evening, Moya.

Yes, I've just read jolono's little gem, and it is brilliant, I agree.

Pleased you enjoyed mine too, and I appreciate you taking the time and the trouble to tell me.

Rigel

scratch | July 12, 2012 - 19:42

Hello again Rigel.

Well it seems that you are growing your own orchard of cherry trees. I can't help thinking that it will eventually grow into a forest!

Well done on another fine effort. I love poems with birds in them, so that's a bonus as well.

Regards.

Rigel | July 13, 2012 - 08:59

Thanks, scratch.

Have a great weekend, and more power to our feathered friends.

Rigel

MistakenMagic | July 15, 2012 - 16:23

"Festering holes
where eyes once were –
look straight through
to heaven; a murder
of crows knows
no decency, has no
sense of compunction."

- love this stanza, Rigel. A wonderful juxtaposition of death and busy city life. Excellent poem!

Magic xxx

Rigel | July 17, 2012 - 08:41

Thank you so much Magic. I am more than obliged to you. Your words are quite something too. 'Juxtaposition of death and busy city life'. I like that, a lot.

Rigel x