there weren't very many of them.
I thought--I might be like a girl I read
about, who woke up speaking Italian
though she never had before.
I thought I might discover a talent for
playing the piano
or hitting a softball
or performing feats of memory.
As time went on--well, you know.
Good at this, not so much at that.
Lucky at neither cards nor love.
You have--oh, where should I start?
(should I start?)
gray eyes like my father's,
amused and kind, but in a woman's face.
I like--how you look in that flannel shirt
of gray, blue, and white, with the maroon henley
underneath, and old blue jeans.
I like--your bedroom with the pastel
gray walls and cream trim. Yes, I looked
on my way to wash my hands
with your milk & honey soap.
I'm nervous--but in such a delicious way.
Should I tell you what I'm feeling? I could
ruin this bright beginning, I know...
Your hair--it looks good gray
I want to touch it, touch you,
but chances have gone wrong before.
It's a gray area--how you might react,
how these things are done
when nothing is familiar or sure.
Impossible things--Alice's Queen believed
in at least six of them before breakfast
I'm wondering, could you?
Would you--take a chance on Wonderland with me?
________
for What's Going On? Colors Passing Through
Music: Denise King Stuck On You
I liked this one a lot, Shay. I found all of the personal touches very moving....and the ending especially so. Those grey areas are definitely difficult to navigate. One never knows for sure what will happen if.... And I know ONE thing you are good at-- capturing thoughts in a poem!
ReplyDeleteGah. This is so WONDERFUL. I especially love your father's kind eyes and face in her face, and the description of her clothes. (My kind of woman! My blue-grey flannel shirt has a big wolf face on the back.) I especially love the question you ask at the end - she would be lucky to chance wonderland with you, my friend. How could she resist this poem?
ReplyDeleteSo good! You get me every time. Voice, images, message. For me, your poems have it all.
ReplyDeleteBrilliant and heart-grabbing poetry as usual, Shay. You cover the gamut of emotions in color, in thought, in approaching the impossibilities and possibilities of life and love all within the context of a "gray area," a burgeoning attraction.
ReplyDeleteWhat a wonderful poem. The gray area of a new relationship fitting in so perfectly with the colour gray that weaves through your poem.
ReplyDeleteI'm in love with your poem! Yes, you should start! Why just think impossible things before breakfast? Find out one of them is possible. Grey is the perfect color approach to flannel, maroon and blue!
ReplyDeleteThe color 'gray' seems to be in a 'to be or not to be' mood. Hoping the bright new beginning was not ruined and wonderland was reached. So lovely to read this one.
ReplyDeleteYour poem resonates deeply, Shay, and I love the way it shifts from the impossible maybes to possibilities and the real colours of life. I remember being nervous in a delicious way.
ReplyDeleteYou've done it again, Shay. Your images, your voice, your message... you get me pretty much every time. Your poems really speak to me. Amazing.
ReplyDeletesometimes everything seems gray, a world void of colour. But you poem gives hope or the hopeless, that there is colour wherever you are. Very nicely done.
ReplyDeleteI love these grays. Wouldn't it be great waking up with a new talent? I would take a chance.
ReplyDeleteAll the colors of grey are here, all the shades of possibilities, and they make an artful metaphor for all the things we want or wish for that are neither black nor white...but, then, what is once childhood has abandoned us to this soft grey cloudy uncertainty we call life? Beautiful, vulnerable, and yearning, just as a love poem should be.
ReplyDeleteEverything about this poem is wonderful Shay; the vulnerability, the questions, transformation of time and it's passion! Your talent to say the unspoken always amazes me!
ReplyDelete“It's a gray area” - perfect.
ReplyDeleteSo beautiful. The use of gray, the unknown, question that rests between asking and answering is so powerful, moving.
ReplyDelete