pick a color

 

and I dreamed of you

in the blue haze

your voice lining my mouth

with silver

 

your hands holding the

table

to keep the frozen

words from getting too close

 

you were lamenting

about life

about grief

about grieving

 

about

not getting

what

you deserve

 

your wife was there

floating and singing

on the bandstand

in a tight kaleidoscopic dress

 

her butt was huge

like planet earth

it took up the whole room

in red, blue, orange and yellow

 

the band played ferociously

with intricate harmonies

horn parts that stayed in the air

cascading and ringing through the night

 

one day, i’ll be dead and gone

some human might read this

and wonder what it was like

to live thru these days

 

of lies and resolute right wingers

chipping away

every personal freedom

we have

 

the oil crisis

the terrorists

the gas prices that

keep going up

 

i had a pedicure today

all the women who work there

are chinese

they don’t speak english

 

it was very strange

all these caucasion women

sitting in chairs

while chinese women were bending over

 

doing manicures and pedicures

bending over, picking up feet

scrubbing, trimming,

shaving skin

 

pick a color

pick a color

i brought

my color

 

                   red, blood red

                   shiny dark pomegranate

                   amaryllis red

                   christmas red

 

 

they bend and scrape off

dead skin ….   while we

sit there, feet up

grateful for the moment

 

 

 

 

we endure the snipping

the filing

the thick polish

going on to slow

 

taking too long to dry

sitting on the massage chair

waiting for the metal fingers

to separate flesh from bone

 

muscle from pain

no relationship needed

just metal fingers

and an on/off button

 

(C) sarah james 2011