We are writing
on different sides of the same page.
Never remembering
when the other does fold,
our words are still eyed upside down,
left to write wrongs others won’t read.
Yet, I feel my side thrives
on our empathy, so I cry,
“Distaste implies you have taken a bite,
so why don’t we both blush as you shame these
choices?” Even the simple ones
are misread. I joke about the hot air
wearing a jacket, while you are vested
to bare arms. I miss the mark.
I’m only clever if you’re on my side.
I think, at least
I do love the wrong ones,
and whether you hate correctly or not
is moot
after life divides
our different decisions
into awareness or stigma.
You’re roar is lying, but
you still persist,
trumpeting division for pairs in love
that do not multiply.
I bray to add worth
by sharing all rights
instead of subtracting equality.
But after our votes and anger are cast,
and those two damn simple signs shove us towards new nowheres,
Too tired, partied eyes–one blue, both red–
will close, make friends, again for years.
I’ll still be left, and you’ll still think you’re right.
I somehow gravitated toward this poem based on the title. I’m a bit lost in the middle stanzas, though this confusion is not a reflection of your writing. I’m stuck on this recurring motif – this idea of division, of difference, of partition. Why is it that the two parties never seem to come together? And, then, finally, the reader is left with this sense of continuation. Though the speaker likely wants the reader to feel otherwise, the reader gathers that the speaker will not stay stagnant.
Red and Blue don’t make purple in our society.
What’s so interesting about this poem is that I view it as divisions between people romantically – the dissolution of a relationship. I see the political elements, absolutely. The references to voting and partied eyes lead the reader into the political, but I’d still like to see this separation within the context of two people ending a sentimental relationship.
I wrote it politically, but a few others also told me it reads as a breakup more than political.