Magenta Sun

Monday, March 7, 2011

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Once upon a time there was a little girl
whose favorite color was magenta.
Of all the crayons in her Big Box,
magenta was the most wondrous.
She colored the whole world magenta, this girl
Magic magenta people
Magenta trees
Magenta sun


Until one day, when she had grown big and strong
and wasn't a little girl anymore,
the world turned red.
Candy-apple red, the red of sports cars
and funky hats.
Red was the most wondrous of colors.
Strong and vibrant 
The color of pure conviction
The color of a dare 
The color of wildfires and will.

Her world was red, true Indian Paint Brush red,
for so long that at first she didn't notice
that her red was slowly being tinged 
with black, with purple, with dark.
The next time she looked, the red world was no longer the color of candy apples and sports cars
But the red of garnets, of blood, of wine
the red of being-all-grown-up.
Now she breathed the red of child birth and pain and regret
She walked the red of deep, real love 
The red of contradiction and betrayal
And the messy red of acceptance-- 
The deep, primal red of life.

She looked around, this blood-red woman,
this lady of deep crimson and poisoned apples
this woman of redemption,
and saw a little magenta girl
standing
right
behind her.
The red lady walked back a pace
knelt down a little
and smiled
the magenta girl took the lady's all-grown-up hand,
tinting it a bit with her own magical hue
and the two of them began to walk
into the magenta sun.


So now I have to know.  What's your favorite color(s)?  And what does it mean to you?

8 comments:

Shawnee said...

I loved that.(: As the colors went on and the descriptions changed, my faces and thoughts changed. When the red turned crimson, I frowned. When they brightened my face lit up. Beautifully written. :D

Starlight said...

I loved this poem, it's beautiful.

My favourite colour is green because I love green eyes... I still love yellow very much (when I was a child yellow was my favourite colour - because it's happy, bright, sunny and full of energy.)

A. K. Francis said...

Aw, thanks Shawnee! This is something I woke up with in my head one morning, but it took a few days to go ahead and get it down. I'm glad you like it... and that the colors worked. I was afraid they wouldn't come across right. :)

And, Starlight... sunshine yellow and green... what a beautiful perspective! It seems to fit you.

rusk said...

That was most excellent! Sky blue.

Unknown said...

oh just glorious m'dear! ....sometimes we need to find that child to make the world a little brighter again <3 you :)
well.... "favorite color" has always been a bit of a blur for me as colors have so many shades and all whisper their stories and meanings to me.... as a child i believe it was purple..... then is turned green (many different shades)...the i liked them both together (how odd is that one? ;) but staples like red, black, and white (together mind you) have woven their way around my world for so very very long.... ...and more recently an odd shade of blue (of all things) has caught my eye.... hard to express exactly which and why.... it's the shade found in a bluejay's wing... in concert with the gray and black.... an almost pale blue with a bit of grey in it..... like faded blue eyes....

june said...

I like!

Megan said...

Absolutely loved this. :)

Unknown said...

For the longest time, mine was green...the green of a forest at dusk. Then it changes to pumpkin. Now, it has darkened to a warm terracotta marbled with pumpkin.

I did love this so very much. I wonder what truth I may have illuminated by admitting these favoritisms here... ;)