Susan Denning

As the Color Red

I am at my best near dawn,

when the day is paintable. 

What I wanted to show you

was the way the rooftops vanish.

What I wanted to say slammed shut.

Once I said red and meant, as the color.

As though it were food, or the sound

of new shoes. And if the shoes

had heels that click, imagine the dress.

And if the dress was blue,

the sound of the zipper was

an unstuck sentence.

Susan Denning has poems forthcoming in New York Quarterly, Pindledyboz, and the Bedside Guide to the No Tell Motel: 2nd Floor. She edits the online magazine Caffeine Destiny, and lives in Portland, Oregon.