My Life in Color

Dear Color,

Even though I’m a Canadian

I left out the “u” in your name

Because I don’t want this poem to be all about “u”

When it’s supposed to be

Just about me

And it’s time we had a talk, u and i

Don't expect this to be a love poem

There will be no ramble

No iambic pentameter

Not even a little achoo haiku (bless you!)

No beat in time

No reason to the rhyme

Because you broke the rules

Too cool for school

If you can color outside the lines

Why can’t I?

Maybe

I took you for granted

Maybe

I was irreverent

Laughing at your iridescence

Blowing bubbles with my boy

So when we found those old pictures

on that day

Ancient ancestors, souls long forgotten

The only thing drawn up tighter

than their boot straps

were their noses

like they smelled something rotten

So I made a little joke at ur expense

I said to my son,

Do you see?

They have no smiles,

they have no fun

Life is all black and white

Mixed shades of gray

Because they hadn’t yet

invented color that day.

And I had to hold the giggles in,

Watching his knitted eyebrows

His thrust-out chin

As he tried to picture the world

Without u

Later that same day

he took out the paints

he mixed all your vibrant colors together

until there were

no reds

no greens

no purples

no blues

just swirling grays and black

on the paper white-hued

And for a moment

he thought he had

Turned back time

Just like in the old photos

Taken all the beauty away

And I pulled him close and said

all the colors are still there

blended lovingly in the gray

Time blurred

And he lives under all the colors

of the Rainbow today.

Remember that time

That time me and u

Painted my first apartment that

Vomit-green hue

Gad, we can laugh about it now

Some things only look pretty

when they’re paint-chip sized

And there was that other time, remember?

When I bought that dress? Looked like butterflies in a blender?

What was I thinking? What were u thinking?

We laughed so hard

I couldn’t catch my breath

But now I’m not sure, Color,

That I can forgive you.

Because the world is all black and white

Again

People no longer see shades of gray

Just bright red slashes without the knife

Yes, I know, Color.

I may not be the sharpest crayon in the Crayola box

But I know you’ve stood by me

In the past

Bedazzled me with sparkly silver and gold

Glittering red and green Christmas lights

Freshly painted spring colors

The rebirth of pink and yellow, lime and lilac

Autumn leaves that light up the sky

Like nature’s fireworks

The grand finale before winter comes again

and we sleep in a world of white and black

I wish u would come back.

Ur as old as time, Color

I thought age gave us wisdom

Like all cats appear gray at dusk

(Do cats see humans as gray matter, too?)

Colors eventually fade from view

Maybe that’s the difference

Between me and u

U've abandoned us.

We see only in black and white

No shades of empathy or compassion

no wrong no right

Just stuck in the mire

But what did we expect?

Ur just a metaphor

Playing with words

Playing with fire