she was blue like —
no
she was blue like
no simile i could mouth into the air
the sound of a fog i can’t decipher
she was blue like the number 6.
the number 6 isn’t blue, and that’s exactly
what she was.
what this feels like, what this sounds like,
what this smells and tastes and looks like
it looks like a blue i can’t describe,
like the words are lost
and I’m out
hunting without a flashlight searching in vain
for some hue i’ve forgotten how to pronounce
(i won’t recognise myself by the next stanza
but i’d know her blue anywhere
in any reality, in any universe, on any planet)
she was blue like a fast-forward button
she was blue like a right bracket,
like a vertical ascension to the
altar on the hill,
she was blue like the seagull’s tipped wings
she was stuttering blue
heart-beat blue
wrist veins blue
frosted glass blue
shadow under the door blue
heel of your shoes blue
snake’s underbelly blue
storm cloud cardigan blue
she was blue
and i was white paint
the colour of pale flesh, that spilled into her
we mixed without paint brushes
i tinted her skin
until the whole house was flooded
this yawned in light blue
and i was a fantasy floating in her skies.