Phibby Venable

Phibby Venable lives in Abingdon, Virginia.  She works at Appalachian Resources as a grant writer and reviewer. Her work has
appeared in various journals, anthologies, e-zines, and magazines, including; the Appalachian Journal, the Sow’s Ear
Review, the Circle Magazine, 2River, Poetrybay and Southern Ocean Review. Chapbooks include "Indian Wind Song" and "On
White Top".  She is presently working on a dusk/dawn collection of poetry and photographs depicting the Appalachian & Blue
Ridge Mountains.

Rose Sun at Winter Dusk


I am not blind to the rose sun at dusk.
A set of wine lips dropping
into a horizon surprised by snow
Today my heart is shipless
and I move in my clothes too slowly
I am mislead by protocols
and stay dog chained to duty.
But I am not blind to the way
the day ends so slowly in vermilion
with an envious blush of cheek
It is a secretive time of softness
There is a tiny moment of total stillness
just before the wild dogs, far away,
remember their anxiety of the dark
A pale gray mist lifts in moisture
from the rivered air
A sense of waiting fashions
the night ahead,
It is winter in watercolor
The trees move like warriors
through the old soul of the wind.
I search for the heart of the day
in the day's end.