"Red"

In honor of National Poetry Month, I am posting work by myself each Friday; here is "Red," a recent piece from a series of color poems.

Red

The boy stands among
men before the mirror,
seeing others only in reflection
Careful with his company, he freezes
in the light, turns to alabaster
Eyes and lips sewn shut
Widower even before love
Careful with his company,
not to get snared in the bloodline

Not daring, holding his breath,
the price of survival
A dozen vials of red: a way to
calm, a talisman to ward
Every dance song an elegy,
moving in the crimson light
Each nervous smile a reason
So scared of something
happening
or not happening
or of what could
or couldn’t work

Hovering over the club, the bar,
everyone there, a specter
Vigilance, weariness,
young faces, old expressions,
the specter at the corner of their eyes
Held his breath for a decade,
Lived with the specter, vigilance,
without a right to complain or cry
without a vision of a time to
learn to stand inside his life,
life itself, not the story of it
A time to learn again
to breathe,
in and out,
at ease,
each breath followed by another,
heart still beating

©JEF