Soldiers of Every Day Wars
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I Blue Blue Her signature color It followed her Swam around her like smoke. She was so many shades- The pale of a robin's egg The rippled cool of a lake- Which one did she favor? In the end it was A blue drinking glass Easily dropped to the floor- A thousand lethal stars In a blue tile sky. Perhaps it frightened her To watch the sky fill up with red. Or was she only grateful Not to be blue anymore? II The Dance He wants to hold a woman, A real woman, Not the ones he buys sometimes. He wants to be married to someone Someday. For now he'll settle for a dance partner And anyone will do- He needs to feel her hand on his shoulder, The small of her back beneath his palm. A brief moment when the empty space Around him is filled with her perfume. But no one bothered to tell him The Thorazine Shuffle Is his complete repetoire now And that's a dance he has to do alone. III Schizophrenia in Technicolor He likes to talk about His life as a roofer Years ago. He laughs when he describes How fast he could climb Up shaky ladders With bundles of shingles on his back And how he pounded nails for hours In the hot sun. Until the day the colors came, And changed his life forever. They ran like liquid arrows- Down the ladder, Across the parking lot, Up the steps of the elementary school. And he didn't mean any harm- He was just following the colors- But the pretty little teacher Behind the big desk Couldn't see the colors, And couldn't help but clutch At the pearl buttons at her throat As he frantically outlined in chalk The invisible rainbow On her floor.

Submitted on 2006-02-23 14:38:56     Terms of Service / Copyright Rules
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