Shadows & Dust [poetry]

Colors Personified

Red fizzes with anxiety and

tension, like a bottle of cherry

soda shook hard in the sun

and fixing to burst open.

Orange nibbles her

cuticles and smiles, looking

up briefly from the Pinterest

page displayed on her phone.

Urban aesthetic. Yellow

guffaws like a sugar high

teenager on summer break,

plugged into a chat on Discord

and not really listening to a single

thing you say. Green widens her

eyes every morning then brews

loose leaf tea, stirring widdershins

to banish fatigue and negativity.

Blue stares out the window

and traces shadows with her

fingertips, wishing she had a

cigarette but making do by

burning sandalwood incense.

Indigo takes you on a midnight

road trip, Screamin Jay Hawkins

blaring from the car stereo, putting

a spell on you. Violet settles into

the sofa and just thinks when

you ask her how she's feeling.

Brown smells like espresso

and talks with her hands, rich

black earth embedded under her

fingernails, more a monologue

than a conversation, treatises

that leave you reeling. Gray

curls up cat-like on the favorite

sweater you left piled upon the

chair, snoring softly and

whispering lines from Carl

Sandburg poems in her sleep.

Black absorbs everything

you throw at her with neither

judgement nor retort. Frankly,

she scares you a little. Silver

slides over your skin like

cool running water, pooling

in all your hollows, while gold

effervesces like sunlight

trapped in champagne,

bubbling with laughter.