A HOME MADE ENTIRELY OF COLOR

Hours after meeting my partner, I dream

us shoulder to shoulder in a Home

Depot. The paint aisle is all: decisive

yellow, ebb tide, moon dust, and Vienna

violet. Every color sounds of union.

Each option about growing older

together. And so, years later, older

and arriving to the hospital

for my double mastectomy, it is so

much more poorly lit than we would

like it to be—flickered grey

of the ceiling, pilled sheets, peeled-

linoleum. In the days following

surgery, more colors: gauze, pill bottle

umbra, the pink-red plasma born from

my chest. My partner keeps me alive.

How else can I say it? Look here,

and I’ll show you the rising tide

we’ve chosen for our first home.