A violet evening, I dip my tiny toes
in the red. slip on its shiny luster
Feel it stain my skin like silver nitrate
(how does one become clean again?)
I inhale the ogre stench
that stops my screams from touching
oblivious ears. by pushing them down
to boil at the pit of my stomach –
hot, painful, makes me want to vomit
Vivid color of overdue strawberries,
trampled rubies, and valentines left to perish
It’s a cruel display of burgundy fireworks
that chars all virtue. And then leaves
the debris of my childhood
to cremate into lies, and dread, and
memories only marked with scarlet smears
It’s horrific, heinous, harrowing –

But it all
exudes
from her.

And if she is beautiful in every way…
is this rancorous red nightmare
not beautiful as well?