River Reflections

A short and subtly nihilistic poem. It explores the narrator's reaction to an impressionist river scene. There are suggestions of synesthesia.

River Reflections

Thursday: The sky was untouched, blue, unclouded.

Crossing O'Connell bridge I saw westward

water wimpled colours: Shimmering.

Shimmering in concord, their own noises

whispering white, blue, murky brown, yellow.

Colours from a moving canvas: Rhythm?

I couldn't find a pattern, though there seemed

to me tempo. Rumours of purpose

in movements of coloured disarray.

I passed on and later thought it over.

I wanted tempo. I wanted purpose.

They were colours, palettes in disarray.

Author's Note

Any feedback greatly appreciated. I have never written a poem before. I'm interested to know have if I used the medium effectively. Is the poem too didactic or heavy handed? Is it understandable? How is my use of language? In the first two verses I was hoping to evoke an impressionist river painting, did I to a greater or lesser degree achieve that?