The easy thing to do would be to use red. I’ve done it before. Hot and fiery. The color of blood, bleeding on the page. Red in its many hues pink as a blush or the dark burgundy of spilled wine.

But no. How about blue? Such a poet’s color. Blues beat down from the avenue, weaving their melancholy melody over the street. Looking down from the sky, reflections of an ocean on teardrops from the atmosphere. Blue bells, blue balls, blue suede shoes dancing to a slow song alone. 

But no. None of those will do. I need something new.

So white. White sounds right. Ooops, that might not sound too right. Colored in controversy especially in today’s light. White is all the colors, tightly contained in a single line, a point on the spectrum, of the visible and invisible, light, matter and energy, wave, say hello, oh I see you, white light. Bright is white. The color of my flashlight on my phone, flash bulb, say hello to the selfie, oh but that ain’t white. Still bright though … right? 

White is a winter’s day, with a polar bear, with the snow blowing, eyes closed so the black pupils can’t be seen, ruining our blank paper masterpiece. White is the beginning of every written story ever told. In the beginning was not the word but the blank page. Oh God does spoken word performances, didn’t you know? Only writes on stone tablets. In lists of ten. No wonder He only works six days of the week. 

White is absence. Pigment gone, albino trace without the pink eyes. White lilies don't tan in the sun. Frosted tips of grass, but just the tip. The cause of the crunch under your feet. Bleached tissue, no longer brown, now suitable for wiping tears or blowing your nose. 

White I might write as the color tonight. A flight of fancy, lightbulb bright. White no longer is my screen or my page as it seems; that white is no longer a beginning but the end after the period. 

This is for a dVerse prompt: poetry with a colour motif:

• take one or more literal colours (not a fancy colour name)
• repeat the colour word(s) throughout the poem (e.g. refrain; anaphora, epistrophe)
• use colour synonyms
• employ colour with its specific meaning to the poem’s theme
• let your colour motif(s) also become symbolic

I obviously chose white. I hope you enjoy the poem! 😊

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