7.14.2008

Farmer's Tan

He wears op’ra gloves
and a mask
eyes to collarbone
in color
so unbecoming.
He calls it
blurple, a mix of
blue'n purple.

When he is topless,
he still wears
a white t-shirt with
two nipples
blushing at their own
surroundings.

A white gold ring shines,
a mirror,
against browned finger.
I touch his
hand to see if he
can still feel.

White cigarettes burn
to grey ash.
He turns to brown dust.
Flake and peel,
layer and layer,
dust to dust
too soon for my taste.

(ReadWritePoem Prompt #35)

13 comments:

mareymercy said...

I like the surprise in the line:
"I touch his
hand to see if he
can still feel"

And:
"two nipples
blushing at their own
surroundings"

and
"dust to dust
too soon for my taste"

are also wonderful. A nice poem.

Anonymous said...

I'm really enjoying the colors carried through this piece, blue and purple, white, gold, brown, grey. The beginning is so charmingly quirky, the unexpected associations between farmer's tan and op'ra gloves, the playful blurple. A lot of character here!

Linda Jacobs said...

Ditto! They've said it all!

Anonymous said...

Starts almost light-hearted and then turns very sad towards the end... I have a feeling this one will stay with me.

Anonymous said...

i love me a poem with some mortality in it. :) add a bit of longing and i'm drooling. :)

i had no idea where this piece about farmer tan was going -- in this case the surprise was good.

thanks for sharing it with us!

chicklegirl said...

This starts out sounding whimsical and takes a completely unexpected direction. I like how you used the metaphor of clothing for both covered and uncovered parts.

Anonymous said...

Yes, there's a language of color working here, the color of a bruise, skin tones/earth tones leading to the gray of loss at the end -- really beautiful.

Anonymous said...

Your biggest inspiration looks just like our Tucker. :)

I get the vision of a scarecrow.

Anonymous said...

I really adore the second stanza, and I like how the poem pulls the reader through, in unexpected ways, from beginning to end.

Crafty Green Poet said...

excellent descriptions,

Anonymous said...

i love how the poem is so vivid with colors. and like most commentors, love the surprise ending!

Catherine said...

I enjoyed the strong images, and the poem leaves me thinking.

Andy Sewina said...

Hi, Dead good! I love blurple!