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RED
His
face is red earth.
Grimy, hot. Fiery
pupils swim in
molten eyes.
Massai
red
beads clutch neck and shoulders.
He fires up on crimson
blood in clouds of milk.
His
hair is rust.
A henna braid scorches
his head.
His
mouth is a bell.
Titian tongue
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Summons
family, goats, carroty
calves press togeth
er warm. Read
y children blush.
Only one
cries dread.
He wraps
his ruby
robe tighter.
Wind pricks skin scarlet.
Empty hut glows.
Dung walls
steam sanguine.
Leaves
flame from a burnt
sky, flicker through incarmined clouds
land silent on cold
rusty rock. Seemingly-constant-
red-of-the-lantern-
ready-or-not-turns black.
Evelyn Floret |
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CLOSE
SHAVE
I sleep
At the crater rim
Shielded by canvass
In thundering rain
Electric night
I am encircled
A wandering elephant
Silently
Dispenses
Mounds of evidence
I awaken
Pitched against wind
Towel flutters
Splashes warmth
In a green basin.
I rise
Shrouded in white mist
Descend steeply
Through blue wisps
To the yellow crater floor. |
I watch
Brown gold black white red
Stripes spots dots rhythms
Kill reprieve attack retreat
Eat starve
Eyes dusted gray
Legs bruised blue
Back aching echoing the
Landrover's surge, up
I ride as red gets richer
Reaches the crater rim
Returns to black.
I am drunk
A red rubber bottle
Warms my feet
Melts me
Into dreams.
Evelyn Floret
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