Paint The Sky San Diego Poem by Sally Sandler

I'll paint the sky an ultra-marine
blue wash for this scene,
but strong enough to complement
the ruby husk of pomegranate.

Spanish tiles and rooftop trim-
red with yellow cadmium;
and color fruit with Hooker's green-
in winter paint it tangerine.

Mix some white with Winsor lemon—
yucca blooms of clotted cream on
spires, like delicious bells.
Then, settle on the ocean swells...

where sky is white, with cobalt blue,
like skim milk stained with one or two
blueberries. Ocean less intense;
and on the beach, a broken fence

completes the composition hues
with rust, a counterpoint to blues.
And what of Payne's grey, and umber?
Save for fires in September.