Mood Indigo

Or vermilion maybe...

What's your favorite color — a popular question when I was a kid. Still is I guess. Hells it comes up in so many of those damned BuzzFeed quizzes. Ya know, the ones I'm addicted to? I suppose it’s a reasonable, if lame conversation starter. Certainly better than what’s your sign or Batman or Superman — who’s better.

When I was a kid, I laid claim to yellow — a big summer morning bright sun yellow. Was that really my heart of hearts? Sure. On some days anyway. Other days it was red — the red of fire engines, strawberries and Red Emperor tulips.

But at 5 I was expected to have just one cherished hue and be all faithful and loyal to it. Why? Doesn’t it stand to reason that, just as the weather changes from day to day, so would my allegiance to something so mystically, buoyantly Delphic?

Besides, red was my older sister’s choice and I couldn’t have the same one. She’d appropriated it already.

Do I have a fav now?  Sure and at the risk of sounding Palin-esque — it's all of them. Just like when I was a snot nosed kiddle, the color I like best depends on the day.

The deep purple shadows of the clouds on a dawn struggling to rise. The dusty lavender of Easter grass. The wondrous, cimmerian shade of eggplants. My Saint Mary’s Academy T shirt!

Yellow again — roses, tulips and my big sunflowers! The bottomless, vast red of rubies and garnets. The absolute black of my sweet Coco!

Orange — from that brill fruit color to the color of French Burnt Peanuts MMMMMMMMMMMMMM!

Green. Green of deep mysterious primordial forests and that sunny new young, grass color. Ocean green!

And blue! Blue skies! Sea blue! Blueberries! Blue jays!

Yeah, I could go on and on and on and then some.

Colors Passing Through Us  (the rest of this awesome poem can be found at the link)
~ Marge Piercy

Purple as tulips in May, mauve

into lush velvet, purple

as the stain blackberries leave

on the lips, on the hands,

the purple of ripe grapes

sunlit and warm as flesh.

Every day I will give you a color,

like a new flower in a bud vase

on your desk. Every day

I will paint you, as women

color each other with henna

on hands and on feet.

Mood Indigo — Duke Ellington