Pure ~ A Collection of Poetry

Infinite Colors

I loved my father orange

Like the campfire sparks that glowed brighter than stars

And the pumpkins we carved our love into each years,

Dancing to the Halloween music while we glopped seeds onto cookie sheets

Like the color of the bottle of sunscreen 

He got in his eye

But stayed at the beach with me anyway

I loved my mother brown

Like the color of cinnamon

Sprinkled on apple pie filling, 

Half gone before the dough had set

And the dirt in the backyard

Where we picked wild blackberries

I loved my sister purple

Our secretly shared favorite color

Like the shade of the hand-me-down cotton shirt

She wore during our "dance parties"

Where we'd spin until we were sick

Then gorge on pickles straight from the jar

I loved my best friend blue

Like the color of the floor in after-school

Where we laughed so hard I saw black spots

And the color of the sky the afternoon we went kayaking 

In her backyard marsh

Before we knew

I'd scrape my knee climbing the roof that night

I love you green

Because that's the color

Your eyes glow under a canopied sunset

And the color of the napkin

You wrote your number on

After I lost the business card

I love you black

Because that's how I saw my soul

Before we met

I was beautiful but broken

Until you painted me

A portrait of a girl who's brokenness made her beautiful

Your medium was a mixture

Of charcoal fingers, moonlight kisses, and hands clasped under your mother's table

When it was decorated with peonies

I love you yellow

Because that's the color of the highlighter

We wrote all our notes in

First for convenience, then tradition

And it's the color of the sun

From our first picnic date

When the ants ruined everything 

And 

I guess what I'm trying to explain

In a stumbling, desperate way

Is that every person has a color

But you, my love

Are all of them