the color red

"when i say 'red',

do you imagine it the color of blood,
pouring from the wound of a lost knight
of the round table?

or do you picture a can of coca-cola,
shimmeringly metallic and rust-free?

perhaps you think i lack imagination,
and think of burgundy or magenta

or enraptured, remember your last taste
of salt
or kelp

or kerosene?

but none of these are what i mean by 'red'.

when i say 'red', you should try to picture
a red the color of a cherry, a forlorn cherry,
unplucked on an otherwise bare tree, hanging,
glinting with dew, atop a hill in the countryside,
in the first half hour of morning light.

this is not exactly what i mean, but it will
have to suffice until we establish a broader
vocabulary."

"when i say 'refugee',
...

buzzard