Sunday, April 15, 2012

redder



Once, I asked you, “Is scarlet the same as red?”

Hands across your chest, you said, 
“Scarlet is more red than red.”

I thought, “Is it possible
to be redder than red?”

Then, I remembered
O’Hara’s bow-hot lips,
The vivid A
On Hester’s breast;

Johansson’s erotic hips.



tk/April 2012


R.A.D. Stainforth's lovely reading: 



Join The Mag creative writing group here.
image: Red Roofs, Marc Chagall, 1954

59 comments:

  1. Bold red is my favorite color. Great words to describe such a shade.

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  2. scarlet lips - scarlett's lips (or hips)

    http://www.wallpapermedia.eu/data/media/734/Scarlett_Johansson_2190_Wallpaper.jpg

    love it!

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  3. I like the writng references. Great.

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  4. lovely poem, and the reading adds
    more depth to your words.

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  5. Scarlet: the tunics of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, maple leaves in the fall, and the Canadian flag.

    The Bear experiences a sudden stroke of sentimentality. Suitable, perhaps, for a snowy Sunday morning.

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  6. Wasn't scarlet supposed to be the colour of blood; hence the colour of infantrymen's tunics.

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  7. I am a fan of scarlet so this was much appreciated.

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  8. Red is my favorite color- so passionate as your fine poem illustrates!

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  9. Tess,
    Scarlett IS the only color redder than red.
    It gives me scarlett fever.
    rel

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  10. Love Scarlet lips...J LO's red is awesome too.

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  11. smiles...nice to bend the scarlet letter around the contrasting lips there in the end or maybe they are complimentry...smiles.

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  12. Is reddest redder than redder? I'm so confused ... He did have a penchant for using red in so many paintings. Lovely poem this morning, Tess.

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  13. Wonderful images! Scarlet is indeed redder than red in these instances:)

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  14. Hehehe! I say red is red, and scarlet is an orangy-red. Aren't colours complicated? I like the way you pondered on the question...

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  15. This made me smile. I suppose red does come in different depths and shades, I like the ref to Scarlett O'Hara and the others too.
    Very nice.

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  16. ...so...how many words are there for red?

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  17. ...so...how many words are there for red?

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  18. ... which just makes me think of Javier Bardem.... ooooooh, the hotness!

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  19. yes, it is... and this is brilliant in its brevity

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  20. I love your rythym and sweetness. Beautiful contrasts at the end between heater's sign of shame, and romance.

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  21. Those are some redder than red hot women.

    rosemarymint.wordpress.com

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  22. I enjoyed the playfulness of your poem. Is redness determined by temperature or pigmentation? I love the imagery you evoked by your examples. Thank you for sharing this, Tess. =D

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  23. So many shades of red, so many terrific images in this piece.

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  24. I can argue over reds- there are too few good ones in my book; I do like
    your considerations, thanks-

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  25. Tess,
    I strive for the vividness of Hester's breast. Thank you for reminding me of what I strive for.

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  26. Yvonne, I do as well...we are simpatico...

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  27. Scarlet! I went with crimson! Thought cadmium but it always seems quite poisonous to me.


    Very clever here--I love that you are so succinct and compressed. K.

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  28. "Scarlet is more than red."
    I love that!

    And I actually just now put that together with the last line. Way to make me think.

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  29. Scarlet is redder than red and Scarlet O'Hara wore hues of it, Yes!

    Hank

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  30. The evocative color red. Caught in your poem.

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  31. This one is quite fun, isn't it? I like the "bow-hot" lips.

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  32. Scarlet hmmm..great poem...ur, ah, I hate to be a party pooper but One of the links given here when placed into a Google search engine took me to a not a very nice place...just sayin'

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  33. I could listen to that man read your poems all day, one after another.

    =)

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  34. Lovely suggestive wordplay...... and Miss Scarlett, in the library...!

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  35. Chiccoreal, which link are you referring to? I've included only two links in this post...one to Magpie Tales...and the other to R.A.D. Stainforth's Black Dogs...

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  36. 'Tis a scarlet letter!

    His Tess, hope you had a great Easter.

    Warm regards from David McMahon, Mrs Authorblog and the Authorbloglets as well.

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  37. This was such fun! Reminded me of convos with my husband about color names ("Why don't they just call it 'red'? Why do they have to say 'crimson'?")

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  38. Women have more (or is it different?) colour receptors from men and see shades of colours differently. Only Tess could make a poem out of this!

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  39. Definitely redder than red, those lips!

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  40. A red that is so bold as to color the lips!! Wonderfully stated
    Hugs
    SueAnn

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  41. Sensual and sultry, Tess, loved it.:)

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  42. Agree with the previous poster...very sensual. Love that you communicate so much with such economy of words. Well done! Vb

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  43. A tale of 2 reds.....love this poem Tess! A smoldering hot write!! :-)

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  44. and then there are those red lips with the eyeball between them.

    Chagall is marvelous and so are you

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  45. This reminded me that I once knew a scarlet woman who lived in a red light district... he name was Ruby!

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  46. Love is like a red red rose -- but lust is scarlet... like this Tess... :)

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  47. I like the juxtaposition of celebrity and notoriety - these actress's celebrated seductiveness and poor Hester's shame...

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  48. red is the accent wall of our home...

    Nice!..

    JJRod'z

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Inject a few raisins of conversation into the tasteless dough of existence.
― O. Henry (and me)