Into the West
Alberta is a blank sketchpad
to the eyes trained for neon lights and mishaps
labeled modern art, unable to see past
their tawny smog and blue lights—this is a private gallery.
A winter’s sunrise stroked pastel lavender
by the blackbird’s feather drifting above a cerulean lake
dusted with glitter. Strands of shredded cotton balls
curl upwards from the silent surface.
The ridge of mountains sprayed
deep forest green. The graffitist’s thumb slipped on
the nozzle as he turned to call back to his friend. Changing cans,
spritzes of sunshine fall gently on scarlet leaves.
The roads etched in charcoal,
long and straight. Halfway through, the child’s hand
grew weary of gripping the two yellow crayons
and he wandered home for a snack.
A herd of cows blotted
cream and chocolate in oil pastels,
trembling in gnarled fingers on a nursing home porch.
Just a smear as they graze high in the hills.
The crimson orb dips into black soil, tugged by the flick
of a rainbow tail under the ice, stars poking through
the thickening cloth of night until the moon
is our only spotlight.
Mitchell Angelo is a Senior creative writing major at SUNY Purchase College, and the Managing Editor of Gutter Mag. His microwave is haunted. His work has previously appeared in Gandy Dancer, Paintbucket.page, and The Westchester Review.