White Chalk

by Jacynth Apora

Bring me the color

that makes a hue lighter

Bring me the color

that brings luck to a July born Cancer

Bring me, a suppliant, this color,

my seagulls and sailor.

Bystander angels

who witnessed how

I sang to make melody out of insanity

Gave out flowers to saviors

who did not deserve to suffer

the hell I disguised

with prettiness and favor

You cannot cheat the essence of control

that's what I've learned from seagulls.

I wait for someone

who will tell me to swim with her

We sail at seven,

in the morning or evening

like a baby's eyes opening

for the first time in the spring

Conceived by snow

now waves rock the boat

like a baby being rocked to sleep

She tells me I am mine to keep

as our heartbeats share a rhythm.

Flint striker of ambition

Handmade creations

I used to dream in noir

but I don't need to anymore.

I take the time to say, "I'm sad"

I make the time to say, "I'm happy"

That's the most I've ever said in my poetry

all my other words were desperate 

for the breath I've wasted

resuscitating skeletons.

This color brought to me

covered in new memory

Wiping off chalk dust

like the cremated ashes of my old body.