WHIMSY
the madrigal, volume iii
First Light
by alexandra gipson
Traces of sleep float away
The haze of an early June morning
Altocumulus clouds dyed coral, blush, pearl
sail, braided, across the honest blue sky
A fisherman casts his line,
secures a catch, reels in gold
Rays shatter the horizon, plunge
beneath blue tide, scatter diamonds
across the surface
Powdery, passive grains transition
to cool, thicker sand
No sound, not even the songs of birds,
but the calm ebb of water
Waves lap, relaxed, against
the bank until I storm in,
Raw cold shocks my bare skin
My feet induce ripples,
my body creates waves
and chaos in a frenzy
to collect the diamonds
that sink
slowly
Alexandra (Ali) Gipson is a writer from & living in Pittsburgh, PA, who holds a BA in English from Seton Hill University. Her fiction and poetry have appeared in Sampsonia Way, The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, and Parhelion Literary Magazine, among others. She is a proud member of the LGBTQ+ community, works as a legal writer at an immigration law firm, enjoys reading, alternative and rock music, and Penguins hockey, and is on Twitter at @aligips.