Sunset and Orange: A prose poem cycle

Cover of the original Smashwords edition of “Sunset and Orange”, published in 2012.

Author’s note: “Sunset and Orange: A prose poem cycle” was originally published in 2012 as an ebook on Smashwords, with availability on major platforms such as Barnes and Noble. I recently took another look at the manuscript after a number of years, and decided that perhaps it could use some oxygen in a different publishing context, and that presenting it in its entirety behind the Medium paywall might be a good way to bring it to more people. (I’m considering this dual approach as my ebook publication strategy from hereon, at least for shorter works.)

1

I wish to wander wayward and weightless, happily-dazed in your ever-loving afternoon, a red balloon on your clean ocean breeze. In your evening I would find my rest among the lights of your canyon, perfect dreamless sleep after days to which no dreams compare. The language of your geology is the only tongue I choose to speak. The warm wind of your sunset hour is the only breath I care to take.

2

I came to you as a refugee, banished, marked by canes across my back, fresh punishment. I was a pariah seeking comfort, looking to lose myself in lost dreams, a happy pilgrim with no desire to find his way back home. Into your arms I went.

3