Third Place Poem

These Blues

(for Shane)
 

These blues have covered my window

in black, blocking out endorphin sun

     and soothing rain.

 
These blues have faded me
to grey, gripping mind
            and squeezing out emotion.
 

These blues have sent me

past red, pruning thorny anger
            and weeding out soft memory.
 

These blues have bled me

to beige, blinding me to hopeful sky
            and barring me from restful earth.
 

These blues, they have wed me

to muffled music, baffling oblivion
            and thwarting silence.

 

©2014 Taunja Thompson

 

 

About the Author Taunja Thompson

 

Her poetry has appeared in The Cincinnati Poets’ Collective, The Cincinnati Poetry Review, and The Licking River Review.  Her poem “Seahorse and Moon” was nominated for the Pushcart Award by the editors of The Licking River Review in 2005.  Additionally, her work has placed in The Political Poet’s yearly contests from 2010 to 2013, and her poem “Promise” was selected to appear in the 2012 Book of Poems and Drawings on Peace and Justice.  The April edition of The Aurorean will feature her piece “I Dream of Orange.” 

She currently reside in Cold Spring, Kentucky, with her husband and seven cats, where she practices water gardening and Flamenco dancing.