Soften the sky 
with water. Touch its 
center with raw sienna. 
Darken the glowing 
edges with ultramarine, burnt umber. 
If you have time, lift 
clouds out of the darkness, drop 
warm-shouldered mountains 
along the low horizon. Drift 
cerulean shadows across sap green 
ridges sidled by a lavender river circling 
black boulders. Anoint the river 
with quinacridone gold 
sun pools. Keep deepening 
water encircling stones with indigo, 
cobalt. It doesn’t matter 
which darkness you choose 
as long as it strengthens the light. 

Wandering Shadows (1878)

This oil-on-canvas painting by Scottish artist Peter Graham (1836-1921) is on display at National Galleries Scotland.

Image above was downloaded from Wikimedia on 8 January 2023:
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Peter_Graham_-_Wandering_Shadows_-_Google_Art_Project.jpg

Susan Tekulve’s

newest book is Second Shift: Essays (Del Sol Press). She is the author of In the Garden of Stone (Hub City Press), winner of the South Carolina Novel Prize and a Gold IPPY Award. She’s also published two short-story collections: Savage Pilgrims (Serving House Books) and My Mother’s War Stories (Winnow Press), the latter of which received the 2004 Winnow Press fiction prize. Her web chapbook, Wash Day, appears in the Web Del Sol International Chapbook Series.

Her nonfiction, short stories, and essays have appeared in journals such as Denver Quarterly, The Georgia Review, The Louisville Review, Puerto del Sol, New Letters, and Shenandoah. Selections from her photo essay, “White Blossoms,” appeared in Earth Hymn (Volume 6 of the KYSO Flash Anthology), with the full essay published online in Issue 12 of KYSO Flash.

Ms. Tekulve has received scholarships from the Sewanee Writers’ Conference and Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference. She teaches in the BFA and MFA writing programs at Converse University.

Author’s website: https://susantekulve.com/