Black History POETRY Month

color bleeding
 ~Evie Shockley

one year, i carried the blues around
like a baby. sure, my coffee mugs cupped

amethysts :: water gushed, rose-tinted
and -scented, from the faucets at my touch ::
the air orange with butterflies that never

left me. meanwhile, indigo held fast
to my toes :: lapis lapped my fingertips ::

and a hue the shade of mermaid scales
bolted through my hair like lightning.

my eyelids drooped, fell, heavy with sky.
that year i carried the blues around

left me mean :: while indigo held fast,
the daily news tattooed azure to my back.
true, festivals of lilies buoyed me. but what

good could white do? the blues grow like
shadows in late sun :: stretch  creep  run.

Copyright © 2019 Evie Shockley. Originally published in Poem-a-Day on August 12, 2019, by the Academy of American Poets.