Color Study

Do you miss it? The feeling of being

sought

What has taken its place?

Whatever the opposite of mystery is.

She applies a lip in Vermillion. Is the color too young?

Does it matter? Most are color blind.

The server places a teapot on the table along with a small hourglass. Thick slices of avocado yield to the knife

rippling green

like a dress lifting.

They say the confident wear red,

the bold.

But the lonely do, too. The questioning, the hopeful.

Mostly, it renders grey.

Art hangs from the wall

Spare and red: marbled and bloodshot with broad strokes

Imprecise and precise

as a horoscope.

Undertones of blue

Turned into overtones as an adult:

Shades of loss layered

like a lacquered plate, shining,

And now, flesh that folds like a towel

damp and discarded.

The crown moulding is painted white,

gummed in the slats. A sprinkler juts roughly out of the ceiling. A couple stands up and debates whether to remove their cups and soiled napkins off the table. They put on their coats. They leave.

Her breath falls into the voices, and the voices make love to the silence.

Now there’s a woman with

Creamy black skin.

She compliments her lips,

"You wear it well,"

leans in

Don’t let the color wear you.