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