(Vincent Van Gogh – 1889)
“There is no blue without yellow and without orange.”

Vision Fire, Inverness Ridge, CA, Gelatin Silver Print by Karen Bell

Sheltered in cypress,
the pastor’s son clings
to the trunk of his faith.
Lightning grabs the night sky,
fires off a brilliant chaos.
Stars flow in whirling rhyme
from the white spire of truth.

Elastic rhythms reassure him,
but his mind cannot sustain
bright hope. Trembling
at the crackling sabotage,
he weeps as his wild symphony
disintegrates. Bewilderment
cowers in the closet of despair.

Elixir—a green glide through
aqua sky to amber field.
Stained hands clench
the revolver aimed inward.
For two days, life leaks
through quiet hands as
heart fails, mind dissolves.

Epiphany—he soars
into his starry night
soothed by a maze of grace
through stained glass tunnels
where all his colors meld
into pearlized reunion with the Son.
Sheltered here, Vincent shines.

Jillian Ross is a perennial writer and garden designer. She finds writing—like design—to be a combination of art and craft, enhanced by a dose of inspiration. She strives to combine these elements in her work and keep the weeds under control. Jillian earned her MFA in Creative Writing at Fairfield University in 2013. Her work has appeared in Dappled Things, The Noctua Review, Dogwood, The Penwood Review, Extracts, Poetry Quarterly, Mason’s Road, Weston Magazine, The Country Capitalist, Fairfield County Life, and Connecticut Gardener. Jillian lives in Connecticut with FaxMachine and CopyCat, mirror-image tuxedo cats who are fascinated by the working sounds of technology.

Read an interview with Jillian here.