True Colors

You once told me that you dont think in words,
you think in colors.
The concept was so alien to me,
I stopped talking for almost a full minute.
But now I am feeling in colors,
Like when I feel
Orange
Orange like leaves at the end of September
Orange like a fire down to its embers
Orange is what I'm feeling when your words get tender
Orange and nervous and excited and jumpy and scared
Orange like every caution sign that I blew past running towards you
Orange like the color of the sun rising behind me when I visit you
Orange is when my hands are sweaty and my heart is racing
Orange is when I'm excited to see you but have no idea what to say
Orange is behind every nervous twitch when I hold you, underneath every message I send you
Orange is the sound of ringing when I wait for you to pick up
Orange was on my lips the first time we kissed
Orange was in my boots telling me to run after you the last time we said good bye

Or when I feel blue
Not sad,
unlike every crappy country song,
When I've got the blues there is nothing to cry about.
For me blue is the color of your eyes,
And open skies,
And possibilities.
Blue is every reason to see you
Blue is everything that could go right
Blue when it comes to you is always bright
When I'm with you and I feel blue I feel so light
That I could drift into air
That there isn't anything we couldn't do
There is nowhere we couldn't go
There's not a word that could stop our flow
When I'm with you I get so high of forget about the low
When I'm with you the edges of the world seem to glow
Daring me to visit them and to bring you along,

You can also make me green
Not with jealously or envy but with life
The green you grow in me is like the grass the second week in July
That green is thick and strong
That green is always long,
No matter when you mow it,
And wouldn't you know it,
You make me green like summer in the middle of winter
I am a palm tree standing next to pines in December
Swearing by my scarf and mittens
Like dress code is all that is between me and survival
You make me green like a cactus in the desert
I am alive where I have no reason to be
You are oasis and jungle
You are unrepentant existence in the face of oblivion,
You plant seeds that cannot help but grow
You are a flower that flourishes in snow
You are vitality and impulsivity
When I'm with you Im all reflex and instinct
Far too busy living to waste time thinking

Our red is damned hilarious.
Our red is the same shade as our faces in the middle of laughter
Our red is sarcastic and suffers no fools
Our red is highly unconcerned with rules
Our red fills awkward silences
Our red is waiting in the wings for easy smiles
When we cry, red is there
Red waits just below the surface
Our red has poor timing at the best of times
Our red is more contagious than the common cold
Our red forgets to look outside and see that it is time for sleeping
Our red never  really sleeps
Our red sometimes moves faster than the rest of us
Leaving our mouths before we have a chance to check it
Our red speaks a language that not everyone can comprehend
Sometimes our red is secret
Sometimes our red sits at the bottom of mugs of wine
Usually our red is loud
I really like our red.

When we work, I feel purple

Purple like a bruise that's sore enough to remind me what I work for

Purple like a house in Hartford 

Purple like hurts that don't fade quickly

Purple that breeds empathy 

This shade of purple dreams of being Walker's lavender

This kind of purple is always inspired

This kind of purple will not burn out 

This kind of purple is royal,

A royal pain in the ass

of any administrator, law maker or anyone

Who thinks that justice is blind,

She is not,

Justice sees our world and weeps purple tears

And sometimes so do we.

Most often you make me feel yellow,

Yellow like the sun at high noon

Yellow like a toddlers balloon 

Yellow like a day that is coming soon.

When I'm with you,

Yellow magic markers retain their hue

Dandelions ask me to save my breath because you are a wish come true

When we come up with new ideas your yellow shines through 

You bring smiles enough for sharing

The thing you do better than everyone else is caring

And you may have to excuse me for staring

But you're bright and you've caught my eye, my ear and my heart 

And before we start

To get carried away with this part

Let me remind you 

That yellow can be brighter

That yellow can be a fighter 

That yellow is lighter

Than air

And when I'm with you I'm filled with enough yellow I could fly 

Since I met you,

I have dreamed in brighter color, 

And sometimes I start to wonder,

If I will ever understand the tie dyed kaleidoscope of colors that is you. 

You burn with fires all across the spectrum,

You smile with a rainbows brilliance,

You are orange blue green red purple yellow and more

I know I will never understand you. 

But, I have watched your colors bleed into me,

And I am better for it.

(poets note: had this one sitting in the draft folder, seems a shame to leave it unpublished, even if the initial muse has moved on)