I built a small blue town
inside myself—
blue chapel, blue steeple,
blue houses, blue storefronts,
blue school. A scale model of
a place I’ve never lived
lives in me. Always
in shadow, the dark blue
of deep shade—
blue rooftops, blue windows,
blue doors. Inside,
you can see it: everything
so steeped in shade,
it’s soaked to the bone.
Blue streets, blue lawns,
blue barns in the blue hills
surrounding. The sun
never thinks to rise, to rinse
clear with its light
the small blue town.
-Maggie Smith
