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After Nightfall

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Poetry and backstories by A. Christine Myers... mostly to remind us of how beautiful life is, but also the rare fulmination when it isn't... "Find our way through raindrops and the shadow, Find our way through noon and on to twilight..."
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After Nightfall

Two Poems

A. Christine Myers
Sep 18, 2023
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After Nightfall

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Night is the underlying presence in both of this week’s poems.

The first is a sonnet (I seem to be writing a good many sonnets lately). The imagery comes from the effect of seeing thin clouds, a little darker than the dark night sky…

My sister kindly supplied the title as my invention had given out by the time I needed to name the piece. More often than not, I am woefully stymied by titles! My muse considers that everything was already said in the body of the poem and anything else is extraneous. Muses can be quite opinionated!

Here is the poem.

Night-Scroll

Paint the dark clouds across a moonless sky
Like pools of ink dripped by a dampened brush–
One wielded by an ancient sage; a hush
Still lingers round the skillful strokes, where lie
Long years of mastery.  We may descry
The faintly feathered black of leaves, just flush
Against the flat of night, a hint of lush
Late summer; then a few flecks, small and high,
Of stars–the white of paper showing through
The night-black hues of ink. Thus summer draws
Her own great scroll across the skies, with view
Of vastnesses just glimpsed near midnight’s pause;
We see her ink-black artistry imbue
The very air; we hush in mute applause.


The second poem is a haiku from an even darker night. But the night was clearly inhabited!

Is the night empty?
Off in the blackness I hear
chirping of a bat.


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In the welter of health issues I’ve been navigating in recent years, writing poetry has been the one task I could keep flowing with. And even so, some days I’m too sick to think and write. But I have found that usually I can keep writing with just a rugged laptop propped up on my knees and a dog beside me. It’s been an enormous delight to find readers who enjoy the resulting poetry.

I am not currently making any additional premium content—just my usual weekly poetry posts. Your payment would simply be a means of supporting my ongoing work… but for that I would be deeply grateful.

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After Nightfall

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After Nightfall

achristinemyers.substack.com
Weston Parker
Writes A Carpenter's Point of View
Sep 18

Just absolutely lovely. You have such well controlled grip on the tone. Halfway through your book of verse...Where can I respond to the book? Here?

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Brian Funke
Writes Poetry & Process
Sep 19

Who needs titles? I enjoyed the first poem very much!

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