Blue

Blue,
I need you.
Like the blue
Ink pen I’m writing with.
Blue like a bruise.
Blue, what the fuck are you?
Tell me!
B L U E.
Letters, symbols, abstraction.

But I see you –
In Steven’s poem:
The blue guitar played by a man
Who can’t quite play things as they are.

I see you –
In most literature,
As a blue ocean,
Blue sky,
Blue light.
You represent life
Since you are the color of water (when clean).
And water is thought to be the source of earth life:
Amoebas, jellyfish, amphibians, dinosaurs, humans
Maybe that’s the wrong order.
And now you represent life to the American culture –
A four letter, single syllable adjective.

But did you have a say in what you symbolize?
No.
A human saw the ocean and grunted, “Blue.”
You are just blue.
You don’t associate with life.
You’re an abstraction, an adjective.
One of the primary colors.

In the color spectrum,
You are in the red zone.
When your red photons are absorbed,
Molecules dance and create vibrations
Which turn water blue[1]
I looked it up. It’s true.

Red, White, and Blue.
Blue: the coats of the Continental Army3
In the American Civil War who fought
For Americans’ freedom

Blue, in
1777 the Continental Congress of the United States
designed an official American flag –
white stars before a blue backdrop –
to symbolize the birth of a constellation5

Stars in outer space
Wink in the night sky.
But you are the hottest 6 –
Between 29,700 °C and 59,700 °C4

You are the blue in a candle flame burning at 1,400 °C[2]

Blue, you are:
Snow-covered field at dusk;
The halo around the moon;
Lightning that daggers across thunderous skies;
Sea coral;
Swordfish;
Blue spruce trees;
Bluegrass Kentucky
Bluegrass music
Blue grass that grows across Tennessee
That which swooshes the shores of the Gulf of Mexico.
That which laps against the banks of the Nile.
That which
That which cleanses sins in sacred Houses
That which cleanses sins at the Ganges

Blue:
A first prize ribbon;
Pool water;
Stove-top flame;
A husky’s eyes glaring at a
bloody, maggot-covered cat
glowing under a single neon street light.

Blue:
The twang on a guitar;
The tweet of a blue jay;
The silent screams of a man behind walls;
The cries, sobs, and sniffles at a wake.

Blue, you are:
Nose, ears, fingers, toes, numbed by winter winds;
Coldwater-numbed-lips;
Tear-filled eyes;
Veins on my hands;

But did you know if you were a human
And a pair of hands squeezed your neck,
Your face would eventually turn blue?
You could even die if your blood lost enough oxygen,
Then your whole body would turn blue.

You are not a human.
You are a blueberry.
I can eat you
I can feel you squish in my mouth
I taste you.

You are twilight skies I glare at.
You are the cloudless dome I look for when I step outside.
You are my favorite color, my favorite abstraction.






1 “1 E4K: Conditions in different temperatures.” Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. 4

Sept. 2006. 15 Sept. 2006.

[2] Braun, Charles, Sergei N. Smirnov. “Why is Water Blue?” Why is Water Blue. 1993.

Dartmouth College. 15 Sept. 2006. par. 1, 2

3 “Continental Army.” Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. 12 Sept. 2006.

15 Sept. 2006. .


4 “Conversion Calculator for Units of Temperature.” Temperature Conversion

Calculator. 2004. University of Exeter. 15 Sept. 2006.



5 “History of the American Flag.” History of American Fla. 2006. USA

Flag Site. 15 Sept. 2006. .


6 “Stellar classification: Morgan-Keenan spectral classification.” Wikipedia, the Free

Encyclopedia. 11 Sept. 2006. 15 Sept. 2006.