Neon Night: Urban Sonnet

Above, the shrill of neon lights portend
a promise of new love in garish hues,
but for a broken life yet on the mend
the darkness of the scape brings only views
of solitude when memory accrues
as strangers unimpassioned eyes peruse.

The music wafts from grottoes down below,
blue jazz and candles in a shadowed room,
while up here floodlights cast necrotic glow
as wind gusts and the drops of rain resume.
Cold luminance is all that they exhume
just as my mind expects a rose to bloom.

Your recent death keeps looping in my mind,
no passing faces in the crowd are yours.
I walk the night, imagine you in kind
emerging through the uninviting doors
like Cathy to go dancing on the moors.
I rush beneath an eave as now it pours,

your white reflection standing in the rain,
come back to haunt the neon night again.

1/23/18
Copyright © | Year Posted 2018

Poem

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Ravidas Avatar
April 23, 2019 at 3:55 PM
Thank God I didn’t participate in that contest. Everything I love: drama, noir colors, flawless poetic architecture. I’d feel the senselessness of my existence)
Cozart Avatar
April 23, 2019 at 4:44 PM
From reading your work you've already got everything. But writing in forms requires discipline I didn't have until two years ago when i started posting to the soup. But I kept practicing until I could hear the cadence of metered verse in my head. So keep at it!
Lindley Avatar
March 24, 2018 at 5:54 AM
Just this morn found this exceptional sonnet. I sweated to write my urban sonnet but you made it look easy to write a brilliant one my friend. A fav...
Cozart Avatar
March 24, 2018 at 8:16 AM
Thanks so much, Robert.
Scars Avatar
February 21, 2018 at 9:39 AM
great rhythm and rhyme and imagery, loved your poem thank you and congrats :)-luloo
Gauthier Avatar
February 20, 2018 at 9:40 AM
Wow, what an awesome read. The imagery is haunting. Congrats on your most deserving win, Dale.
Cozart Avatar
February 20, 2018 at 10:07 AM
Thanks so much, Line.
Dietrich Avatar
January 25, 2018 at 12:24 AM
wow, this is gorgeous writing. Such eloquence, Dale. I love how you took the title of the contest, and made it URBAN and yet so classy , making me think again of Heathcliff and that haunting romance!!
Cozart Avatar
January 25, 2018 at 8:32 AM
Thanks, Andrea! I'm really glad you like it.
Marcum Wong Avatar
January 24, 2018 at 11:45 PM
You are brilliant with providing imagery that captures attention and your line about Cathy gives this poem that haunted feeling that causes chills. Just beautiful Dale! : )
Cozart Avatar
January 25, 2018 at 8:30 AM
Thanks you so very much, Connie!
Lawless Avatar
January 24, 2018 at 10:08 AM
Magnificent job with this "new" form and some brilliant images and mellow metaphor.
Cozart Avatar
January 24, 2018 at 10:24 AM
Thanks so much, John!
Allison Avatar
January 23, 2018 at 5:27 PM
awesome imagery Dale and if you ever get across the pond go to Yorkshire and the Bronte museum you will LOVE it:-) I've been twice it gives me a chill when i walk through the door:-) hugs jan xx
Cozart Avatar
January 23, 2018 at 5:35 PM
Thanks, Jan!!
Cresswell Avatar
January 23, 2018 at 1:37 PM
i read.I can almost feel the slow jazz wail as I read. Enjoyed.
Cozart Avatar
January 23, 2018 at 2:13 PM
Thanks, Patricia! Nice to hear from you!
Rodrigues Avatar
January 23, 2018 at 12:27 PM
This is quite beautiful! Love the reference to Wuthering Heights!
Cozart Avatar
January 23, 2018 at 12:29 PM
Thanks so much, Kim!
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