Venetian Sunset

by Susan Surette


Evening combs through ancient canals
past dank decaying walls
where lines of sheets and shirts 
hang overhead along damp
back streets shadowed between
buildings of white and terra cotta 
cool greenery dripping over secret walls

narrow streams of fading daylight
slink past narrow passageways like
shifty stray cats
weary feet sigh beneath tables
outside trendy cafe, tourists
sipping extraordinary wine from 
exceptional varietals
lips rejoicing when golden, unctuous
liquid passes through, as steady
beat of gondolier’s oars sweeps past

from behind gleaming windows, the
sidewalk scene of this colorful village
is like a living paint sale where all
too soon the sun melts into 
the waiting glass


* * * * *

"Venetian Sunset" was first published in WestWard Quarterly Magazine, Fall 2021 issue.

A Cape Cod, MA retiree, Susan Surette has had her poetry published in the U.S. and UK. In 2018 she founded the Not Yet Dead Poets Society and was selected “Featured Writer of the Month” for WestWard Quarterly’s Fall 2021 issue. Her writing has also appeared in The Avocet; The Curlew; Cape Cod Times; Ceremony Journal of Poetry, The Voices Project and Nine Muses. Pastimes include travel, gardening, yoga, hiking and hand drumming. Poetry became a survival tool during the pandemic.