MONOCHROME © Sara Etgen-Baker 2025
Sun slowly descends, and the world turns monochrome, like a black and white drawing on the Creator’s easel. I patiently wait for night with its renewing spirit. Nightfall serves as a metaphorical curtain closure, while dawn symbolizes a daily reopening, with the birds serenading harmoniously on cue.
dusk whispers, night falls,
shadows stretch across the sky—
day’s breath vanishes
dawn’s silent embrace
cradles the fragile and bold
a promise of hope
Single silver eye
peering through the foliage
beaming monochrome
A band of comrades rather strange I think you will agree
This oddball bunch together shared a commonality…
The panda didn’t pander to the niceties of style
He wore his usual coat which he had done for quite some while
The zebra was a Libra with an eye for what’s in fashion
She loved the skin she’s swaddled in and flaunted it with passion
The badger was a cadger but he didn’t want your suit
He’ll cadge your lunch but he’s content with being so hirsute
The puffin felt like nuffin with his massive beaky nose
But still he kept his chin up for he rather liked his clothes
The magpie wouldn’t lie although he was prepared to steal
His virtues might be fake but his apparel very real
The Penguin was depending on a chance to show his class
His haute couture was something that was absolute top brass
The skunk just stunk, not all the time, but when occasion rose
His looks were good but he was quite offensive to the nose
The orca wasn’t happy to be so far from the sea
Though he was quite a corker in his shiny livery…
So when they met the parrot they tried not to put him down
But one of them just had to say… “Did you come as a clown?”
Before the day turned into night,
When things made sense amid the light,
When darkness was a shade of fright,
When I saw life in black and white...
Life in colour brings confusion.
Do I see truth or illusion?
Must transcend mental contusion-
Processing feels like intrusion.
The night compels one now to take
This challenge on for ones own sake.
Learn from success and each mistake.
Our life is of it what we make.
Colour's a facet of beauty
Brings depth to personality.
Black or white?
How can that be? I’m sure
I see a kaleidoscope of colors.
But something is not right.
I can’t distinguish which is which.
They all look pallid white or ebon black.
I panic. Where are the rainbow hues?
All gone as if violent squalls of a mighty hurricane
Swept them off the face of a tempestuous earth.
I try to move about and shatter the confusion,
But all is pitch dark fog. I stop
For I can hear, oh yes I can hear
The breathing of someone in the room.
Where is it coming from? Who is luring there?
I can sense it in the corner, a shape darker than dark.
I freeze. Those eyes! Burning red.
I see it approaching, getting near.
I scream.
My wife touches me tenderly.
Another nightmare? Come we’ll have breakfast.
I rise and grasp my white walking stick.
All is stygian dark though I feel the soft white sun.
For I am bat blind.
Except minute faint white patches.
The rest is just tar black.
Black and white movies,
old even when I watched them
flicker still on an inner retina.
A hero turns conspiratorially,
staring into my future;
what he said into the camera then,
is silent now
but I see his lips move
as if he were predicting this moment.
A heroine hikes her skirt over her thighs;
blood fills the flesh of memory,
a dialogue recalled by younger nerve-endings.
I remember I love her, but it is too late,
she is dead and she did not die young,
her ancient hand seems to
grasp my fingers now,
seeking closure.
King Kong lives a broken life in my hall closet.
At night I hear him weeping still
for that little platinum haired women.
He is no longer tortured, angry,
and confused,
but he forgets stuff,
Nightly I still have to explain to him
that the sound of buzzing biplanes
is only the air-conditioner kicking in.
Eventually we both slip into sleep.
I cherish old photos in monochrome
They seem more poignant and focused
Had they been in colour they would be lost
In dazzling cobalt skies and lapis lazuli waters
Turning my world into monochrome
I often wish I had a switch in my brain
Stopping all these colourful distractions
To focus and absorb to cherish life
Like a top spinning my inner self to dizzying motion
Readying my heart to absorb and cherish
the colours of what I see with my eyes mind and soul
Slowly seeping over and into my monochrome
mirages
1.04.2021
Contest: Cherish
Sponsor: Constance La France (Second Place)
My play buddy ,my agony aunt,
sometimes sweet and sometimes blunt.
I am blessed with a man in my life who has always been by my side,
by the way he is also the one on whose back i have played horseride.
Over the years his hair turned grey,
but still he is the best coach when it comes to fair play.
Life is gift when you meet good people,
life is a boon when you have someone who makes you better every day.
It's not just the money that I can't repay you ever since you became the sole donor to my piggy bank,
It's the unconditional love that I will be forever indebted which I received from you.
Holding my hand while crossing the road,
peeking through the window when I am off to home,
our memories together are a beautiful monochrome.
You showered my life with values and virtues,
you taught me chivalry and gratitude.
You believe in me more than I do,
that's what makes you my grandpa and my perfect hero.
Aged glacier, gentle ice,
forever you remain.
While our torrent sacrifices
memory for fame,
forever for a name.
Lofty mountain, overseer,
you never condescend.
We beat a track on broken back,
and fail to comprehend,
means justify an end.
Immortal ocean, secret deep,
Such treasure must you hold.
But footprints found along your shores,
speak of futures sold,
of pockets lined with gold.
Open sky, you beckon freely,
offering your home.
We seize your canopy of stars,
and take it for our own,
make it monochrome.
MONOCHROME SONATA
Black
To white
Transition
Soft tones of grey
Compose sublime monochrome sonata
Image 2
22 September 2019
The lamb of March morphs into a lion,
and with a roar, Winter asserts its might.
As the Pleiades flee from Orion,
the lamb of March morphs into a lion.
Late flurries bury the dandelion,
denying shoots warmth and essential light.
The lamb of March morphs into a lion,
and with a roar, Winter asserts its might.
Denying shoots warmth and essential light:
Spring's earliest blooms may wither and die.
Winter's reign is almost through, but not quite;
denying shoots warmth and essential light.
Red-breasted Robins are a welcome sight,
as tepid breezes summon them to fly.
Denying shoots warmth and essential light;
Spring's earliest blooms may wither and die.
As tepid breezes summon them to fly;
flocks of migrating songbirds head back home.
Yes, they're coming, not a word of a lie,
as tepid breezes summon them to fly.
Unaware that March tends to go awry,
they arrive in a land of monochrome.
As tepid breezes summon them to fly;
flocks of migrating songbirds head back home.
Silence and noise
Daybreak and twilight
Monochrome girl
In black and white.
Each day living
In a world with no
Colour or life
Or glimmer or glow.
Both colours
Meaningless as the other
White a nuisance
Black a mere bother.
Soles thudding on ground
Running away
From the fears that haunted
Her both night and day.
A gasp of pain
Sharp shoots of dread
Monochrome girl
Now splattered with red.
Behind frosted glass
Visions of a silver moon
Traces of nitrate
18/06/2017.
the leather train
the house without doors
both inside of the brain
one is and one roars
there's a whale
breathing slowly
on the slope of an anthill
the chorus said
that the lords are dead
and sand is made in a land mill
the midnight flight
was interrupted
by monochrome chameleons
and after that
enough said
we're through silly aeons
a craven suitcase
a chessboard cab
and drums from thirteenth floor
make me riven
make me sad
and now I have to go
pardon me
Monochrome photo
Black and white, shadows and light
What do you hide so deep in there?
Behind those flowers that shine so bright
How so much beauty she hides inside her
That we cannot see behind her hand
There is no bracelet or wedding band
With long flowing hair she’s quite a beauty
Maybe she feels she’s not doing her duty
Hiding under those hands so slender
Her heart is probably so very tender
17-4-16
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