Out of the Blue

I used to be blue

And there are so many shades of blue

Cerulean

Aqua

Azure

Indigo

Navy blue

Sky blue

Powder blue

Royal blue

All those hues used me, abused me

Painting me with the same brush they paint everyone

In aqueous watercolour stagnancy

I lay curled up in the fetal position

Trying to be the radio in the yellow kitchen

On the window-sill by a box of begonias

Amidst smells of sizzling bacon

And starry-eyed ingénue eggs sunny side up

Like an audition of myself

But through a typhoon of salt and pepper static

All I caught were more blues

Delta blues segued into blues rock

Rocking me all night long

New Orleans blues paraded into swinging Texas

And punk blues added jammy blood red

To my palette by way of Kansas City

But I couldn’t live that way

So I began my journey

Out of the blue

Out of the confines holding me

The shackles that had once felt like hugs

I was done being unhappy

I finally reached for the fiery sunset

And let it tint me violet

Out of the blue, into amethyst-hued

Plum and magenta dreams come true

Neither blue, nor scarlet but both

A cocktail of smiles and tears

To sip through future years

The colour of blooming lilacs