Poisonous berries, mushrooms, frogs
Look but don’t touch
Touch but don’t taste.
So many shades of lipstick and
It’s never the right red.
Red signs and lights will stop your car.
Red capes enrage bulls and enrobe catholic cardinals
And spotting the kind that can fly is lucky.
Red is lucky in China
Red will not be quiet.
A reliable red backpack
A raspberry beret from the second-hand store.
Three shades of red stockings
Five favorite dresses, seven sweaters and
Too many pairs of sneakers in various states of decay.
Remember the “Red Shoes”:
When pretty redheaded Moira
Put them on she knew she
Had done something wrong.
“Lady in red is dancing with me.”
Mary of Scots and Elizabeth I
Lucille Ball, Ginger Rogers, Clara Bow
Tilda Swinton, Annie Lennox, Tori Amos
Kate Bush, Kate Winslet,
Kate Hepburn, Cate Blanchett.
Bette Davis.
Cleopatra.
Mom.
Richard the Lionhearted, Jean-Paul Sarte
Vivaldi, Napoleon, Van Gogh and Joyce.
Lawrence, Lenin, Jefferson, Custer, Churchill
Robert Redford, Johnny Rotten
Lord Byron
David Bowie
And also, Dads beard.