PAD 16

The Virgin's Rape

So red
the flame, the wine, the blouse,
the lipstick smudge,
the blood.
So pale
the skin, the fading moon,
the dawning sky,
her trembling wrist's
earth bound thud.
So black
his eyes, his hair, his heart,
the pummelled soil,
the canker on
the rose's bud.

Sometimes I get surprised by where a poem takes me when I'm writing. Today's prompt was color, and I chose red, because it's one of my favorite colors. I look wonderful in red, and I associate it with energy, confidence, energy, warmth, and charisma. If a sales person is asked their favorite color in a pre-employment personality test, the preferred response is red. Red is the color of the power tie. NBC's Today Show did an informal study that showed that men think women in red are more attractive than women in attire of other colors. For me, the emotional associations with the color red are more positive than negative, yet this dark poem is what emerged.