dVerse Poets – Poetics – Seeing Red
Sarah at dVerse has invited us to write a poem about the colour red.
Photo: unsplash.com
“If you accept the expectations of others, especially negative ones, then you will never change the outcome.” Michael Jordan
Red Line
She wasn’t sure why
red had always unsettled her
in ways she couldn’t quite speak,
though she knew an answer
lurked deep within,
she put the book down
and occupied the window,
distracted, sighing,
trying to locate her feelings
which the red line had evoked,
a teacherly line,
forbidding, shaming,
a smallness crept in,
she felt it in her skin,
exposed to the world again.
A bird lighted on the sill,
now engrossed,
undone,
she left red
for another day.
©Paul Vincent Cannon
Paul, pvcann.com
parallax 
She can let that red sliiiide right off the page… 😌
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Yes, I wonder that she might awaken to that 🙂 sounds like you know! 🙂
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🤣
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There’s something disconcerting here, a secret not told, a memory not surfacing. Nice response to the prompt. I’d forgotten about the teacher’s red pen.
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Ha, I was so naughty in school, I just ignored the red pen, but others I know carry deep wounds. Tender years schooling. Thank you so much for your comments Sarah.
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There is a sense of “forbidding, shaming” in red.
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Yes, that tender time when scars linger, are awakened. Thank you Frank.
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Sometimes our smallness isn’t the biggest thing. Good thoughts.
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Thank so much, I like your thoughts here, yes to that.
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Too much red ink can hurt tender psyches!
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Many thanks Lynn, yes I’ve seen so many damaged youngsters I’ve seen.
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I hope one day day realize her strength and overcome.
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So many like this, heart breaking.
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there you go again, writing about the human condtion. “saves red for another day”. Sometimes there is neither the space nor the resources to deal with those nigglings. Well done.
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I park some of it till I can get that space, and energy too, so draining at times. Thank you so much for sharing those encouraging words VJ.
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Welcome, Paul
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Reblogged this on The Reluctant Poet.
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Bewre that pen, thanks Charles.
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My pleasure, Paul!!!
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🙂
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Mmmm! I wonder…
Red. Best left to the imagination. I like that😊
Pat
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Many thanks Pat, I agree.
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That teacherly red line jumped out at me. I have never, ever, used a red pen on a student’s paper.
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So glad to hear it. Sadly, for some, it has been a horrible reality. You obviously value people.
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Yes, I do. Teachers can do a lot of damage in inadvertently.
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Yes.
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I related to the pondering feelings evoked
>
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Yes, too true for some we know. But also in a generic sense, how disapproval works in our psyche.
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Great read
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Thank you.
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