RED

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.