watching sunsets

i've been watching sunsets going
home late on the bus,
the squalling of brakes
ill secured seats
singing with the carnival glass clouds
all purples and pinks
and red, looking like church windows
a shimmying sky dancing
like glen miller played to the heavens.
my daddy
told me the sun sets improperly
on the east coast
diluting the trees
sprawling colors into a paint spill blue.
"sunsets here aren't spectacular," Dan says,
"but the sunrise-

Lord Almighty."
i look at him like he just said
silk comes from bees
and worms make honey in China
i watch beauty and grace and passion seep
from a fireball every night,
the dissipated color of strength.
i see the sky melt
from almost cobalt to iris to near-black,
thinking i'd be better
off on a rooftop or the hood of a car,
small in his arms and a sunset
in my heart.

Email: elmosg@hotmail.com