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
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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.
A brilliant prompt for red, and the Random Act of Poetry too!
ReplyDeleteBeautiful, Maureen.
ReplyDeleteYour language always arrests. Makes me want to be a better poet.
I hadn't heard of the Random Acts of Poetry. I'll have to check it out!
ReplyDeletea ribbon of red
ReplyDeleteruns through
everything
Glad to read your red!
ReplyDeletenance said it...a river of red...a love in february that hopefully mimics the one in december
ReplyDeleteBeautiful write--I love the opening!
ReplyDeleteExquisite, Maureen. So cleanly drawn, yet poignant... beautiful. xj
ReplyDeletefeel the emblem on my sleeve" awesome I like that whole metaphor
ReplyDeletePainfully direct, just like the color red.
ReplyDeleteSo beautiful.
ReplyDeleteThe red is why Christmas and Valentine's Day are my two favorite times of the year.
ReplyDeleteGorgeous. I have been thinking of this prompt all month and the words won't come. Maybe I'm thinking too hard.
ReplyDeleteI've spent some time with this ... especially the last two lines.
ReplyDeleteSounds 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!
ReplyDeleteThat'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.
ReplyDelete