Van Gogh's Still Life: Vase with Fourteen Sunflowers (1888)
Sunflowers, a communion of moons,
absorb the light. None shines back.
Warm, near brown flowers, some new,
some losing petals, or tilted to the side,
foreground a suffused matte finish yellow,
form a set piece by way of a loose lasso
around these flowers. The mind has hypothesized
their belonging in this frame.
Thick brush strokes of tubed-on paint
affirm both vase and table
with confirming gravity, as if to protect
these muscular flowers
taking sunlight into confidence
gathering sufficient light
to prepare for the inevitable
darkness in time for night.
She left school on command and suddenly.
I felt autumn alone, visited her home.
Her parents chill as autumn in her home.
I was indelibly in first love.
My first affection, palpably new.
Her quick laugh, a sparkling shallow pool.
A shallow pool, her reflexive sparkling laugh.
My learning, on hold as the teachers watched.
I watched myself alone with teachers.
Pulled closed my coat as trees filled with shrill wind.
Wind resisted song beneath my coat.
Her shrill soprano safely distant.
Her soprano voice, as unsafe as herself.
She left school on command and suddenly.
First Affection
Sheila E. Murphy's latest book is Escritoire from Lavender Ink Press (2025). Murphy resides in Phoenix, Arizona. Her Wikipedia page is: