Image courtesy of the National Gallery of Art
Strands of darkening
tangerine twilight
tantalizes
an Ontario skyline
near Horseshoe Falls
sending frothy waves,
sheets of water
cascading over
rocky outcroppings
into the Niagara River,
as we stand
on the observation deck
at Skylon Tower
mesmerized
by its sheer force
hours before
moonlight casts
its glow on a dark
June evening sky,
before we whisper
under the stars.
This poem, inspired by Frederic Edwin Church’s 1857 painting Niagara, was first published in The Ekphrastic Review, October 20, 2023 in their Ekphrastic Challenges series. Read about ekphrastic poetry in Niagara.
A Pushcart nominee, Dr. Jim Brosnan is the author of Long Distance Driving (2024) and Nameless Roads (2019) – copies available from opmewriter@gmail.com. His poems have appeared in the Aurorean (US), Crossways Literary Magazine (Ireland), Eunoia Review (Singapore), Nine Muses (Wales), Scarlet Leaf Review (Canada), Strand (India), The Madrigal (Ireland), The Wild Word (Germany) and Voices of the Poppies (United Kingdom).He holds the rank of full professor at Johnson & Wales University in Providence, RI.