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Markings 100 - Word of the Day

chiaroscuro

noun:

1. the treatment of light and shade in drawing and pai

2. an effect of contrasted light and shadow

"the chiaroscuro of cobbled streets"

Origin

mid 17th century: from Italian, from chiaro ‘clear, bright’ (from Latin clarus ) + oscuro ‘dark, obscure’ (from Latin obscurus ).

River Murray Miscellany

An iron windmill grown out of willows

creaks and bangs in the scorching

northerly: pulls the orange river

up clay baked cliffs. Tastes of

green weed and salt. On the track

to the boat ramp in straw burnt grass

ants strip the rotting flesh

from rejected carp. Flies sing

summer stickiness into ears

and eyes. Ripples in water

in the wake of little boats

are dark grey folds of glass.

She-oaks fringe hot breath.

Impatient corellas claw at the hour

as they have always done for night.

Native ducks stencil sun.

How quickly stars and the thin

silken industry of spider web

begins. A still river nets the moon:

children play amongst its secrets.

Jeff Guess

©Jeff Guess 2018

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