Tuesday, February 21, 2012

Looking for Meaning in Red (Poem)

Looking for Meaning in Red

Fourteen days into February
we pucker lips for scarlet-hued kisses

thick and candied into love's own shapes,
pop sweet nothings off rued tongues,

melt down the chocolate-covered I
-dos before they can clot at the back

of our honking, hoar-frosted throats.
By the first of December, we're looking

for the meaning of color in another twist
on red. I finger that satiny strand

I pinned to my coat's rolled collar,
the longer end of ribbon fraying

like my short-circuiting memory. I'd wear
this emblem on my sleeve but then I

couldn't feel my heart pushing, pressing,
breaking against my thin chest wall.

© 2012 Maureen E. Doallas
________________________________

I offer this poem for this month's Random Acts of Poetry prompt, "Red". What's your take on the color? Go here to read the post, then leave your poem or a link to it on the FaceBook Wall for T.S. Poetry Press by tomorrow, February 22. Your contribution could be featured at The High Calling or TweetSpeakPoetry, or in Every Day Poems.

16 comments:

Louise Gallagher said...

A brilliant prompt for red, and the Random Act of Poetry too!

L.L. Barkat said...

Beautiful, Maureen.

Your language always arrests. Makes me want to be a better poet.

KatieC said...

I hadn't heard of the Random Acts of Poetry. I'll have to check it out!

Anonymous said...

a ribbon of red
runs through
everything

Kathleen said...

Glad to read your red!

Brian Miller said...

nance said it...a river of red...a love in february that hopefully mimics the one in december

Audrey Howitt aka Divalounger said...

Beautiful write--I love the opening!

Jenne' R. Andrews said...

Exquisite, Maureen. So cleanly drawn, yet poignant... beautiful. xj

Anonymous said...

feel the emblem on my sleeve" awesome I like that whole metaphor

hedgewitch said...

Painfully direct, just like the color red.

wayside word garden said...

So beautiful.

Buddah Moskowitz said...

The red is why Christmas and Valentine's Day are my two favorite times of the year.

Laura said...

Gorgeous. I have been thinking of this prompt all month and the words won't come. Maybe I'm thinking too hard.

S. Etole said...

I've spent some time with this ... especially the last two lines.

Beachanny said...

Sounds like one of those Hollywood marriages - a little longer than Kim Kardashian's. All Marilyn lips and frayed nerves at the ends. It's really tragic in a technicolor and cinemascope kind of way. You capture so much in so little. I love your brevity!

Monica Sharman said...

That's quite a year you've taken me through. Makes me want to be more intentional about numbering my days between the February and the December.