Synesthete

Colours, people

places, faces

thoughts, ideas

pattern recognition

I could never recognise myself, my colourful chaotic self, in the faces and minds of others.

Too much.

I was always too much sound, too much chatter

too much energy; the overwhelming prism of colour.

My reds were too firey, my greys were concrete

and on my black days, my blue was too deep.

Colours, places

people, faces

patterns, thoughts

idea recognition

I could never sense myself, my overblown self in the ideas and words of others.

White balance.

Always missing just the right balance of light and shadow

too much of one or the other; the uncontrolled intensity of colour.

My lights were too bright or my shadows too dark

– even when I tried, I just missed the mark

Until one day

the people, the faces, faded away.

And I recognised my thoughts, my ideas, saw them in my own face

I only needed to acquire the taste.

A taste for colour,

a sense of wonder at all its unstructured, vibrant intensity

I needed to develop a taste for me.