10.
the blue of distance
“And I’m not sure the island
was meant to be arrived at, for
up close its glowing gold would
have dissolved into scrub and soil.”
-Rebecca Solnit, A Field Guide to Getting Lost
blue is a distance that drowns you if you try to close it.
to come any nearer betrays the peace of separateness.
stay put, and the beauty makes you gasp.
blue is a desire of distances,
nobody up too close to conjure sweat.
forget the redder sizzle a touch would leave behind.
blue denies the friction,
leaving space for air to coolly circulate,
encircling disconnected bodies.
blue is also the deep sea,
a different color,
grey-blue, dark-blue, black almost,
weighted down by leagues of liquid,
lightless nurture at its floor.
the blue of longing is a trick,
promising a perfect view from where you are
of way out there.
look! right before your eyes!
what could be improved upon by
chasing rainbow hues to nonexistent sources?
a wall of blue conceals me,
color crisp and brilliant,
cold as air sucked in through clenching teeth.
I stand afar and gaze,
shivering in solitude,
breathing in the distance.
the in-between*
© 2020 Barry Perlman