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.
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
Bold red is my favorite color. Great words to describe such a shade.
ReplyDeleteGreat heart, you and Marc!
ReplyDeletescarlet lips - scarlett's lips (or hips)
ReplyDeletehttp://www.wallpapermedia.eu/data/media/734/Scarlett_Johansson_2190_Wallpaper.jpg
love it!
I like the writng references. Great.
ReplyDeletelovely poem, and the reading adds
ReplyDeletemore depth to your words.
Scarlet: the tunics of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, maple leaves in the fall, and the Canadian flag.
ReplyDeleteThe Bear experiences a sudden stroke of sentimentality. Suitable, perhaps, for a snowy Sunday morning.
Wasn't scarlet supposed to be the colour of blood; hence the colour of infantrymen's tunics.
ReplyDeleteI am a fan of scarlet so this was much appreciated.
ReplyDeleteRed is my favorite color- so passionate as your fine poem illustrates!
ReplyDeleteTess,
ReplyDeleteScarlett IS the only color redder than red.
It gives me scarlett fever.
rel
Love Scarlet lips...J LO's red is awesome too.
ReplyDeleteLove this one!
ReplyDeletesmiles...nice to bend the scarlet letter around the contrasting lips there in the end or maybe they are complimentry...smiles.
ReplyDeleteIs 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.
ReplyDeleteLovely red stuff!
ReplyDeleteAnna :o]
Wonderful images! Scarlet is indeed redder than red in these instances:)
ReplyDeleteHehehe! I say red is red, and scarlet is an orangy-red. Aren't colours complicated? I like the way you pondered on the question...
ReplyDeleteThis 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.
ReplyDeleteVery nice.
...so...how many words are there for red?
ReplyDelete...so...how many words are there for red?
ReplyDelete... which just makes me think of Javier Bardem.... ooooooh, the hotness!
ReplyDeleteyes, it is... and this is brilliant in its brevity
ReplyDeleteI love your rythym and sweetness. Beautiful contrasts at the end between heater's sign of shame, and romance.
ReplyDeleteThose are some redder than red hot women.
ReplyDeleterosemarymint.wordpress.com
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
ReplyDeleteSo many shades of red, so many terrific images in this piece.
ReplyDeleteI can argue over reds- there are too few good ones in my book; I do like
ReplyDeleteyour considerations, thanks-
I LOVE this one!
ReplyDeleteTess,
ReplyDeleteI strive for the vividness of Hester's breast. Thank you for reminding me of what I strive for.
Yvonne, I do as well...we are simpatico...
ReplyDeleteScarlet is more naughty!
ReplyDeleteScarlet! I went with crimson! Thought cadmium but it always seems quite poisonous to me.
ReplyDeleteVery clever here--I love that you are so succinct and compressed. K.
"Scarlet is more than red."
ReplyDeleteI love that!
And I actually just now put that together with the last line. Way to make me think.
Red for Danger!
ReplyDeleteScarlet is redder than red and Scarlet O'Hara wore hues of it, Yes!
ReplyDeleteHank
Reeks of poetic love
ReplyDeleteThe evocative color red. Caught in your poem.
ReplyDeleteThis one is quite fun, isn't it? I like the "bow-hot" lips.
ReplyDeleteScarlet 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'
ReplyDeleteI could listen to that man read your poems all day, one after another.
ReplyDelete=)
Sue, me too...
ReplyDeleteLovely suggestive wordplay...... and Miss Scarlett, in the library...!
ReplyDeleteChiccoreal, 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...
ReplyDelete'Tis a scarlet letter!
ReplyDeleteHis Tess, hope you had a great Easter.
Warm regards from David McMahon, Mrs Authorblog and the Authorbloglets as well.
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'?")
ReplyDeleteA tale of red...love it!
ReplyDeleteWomen 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!
ReplyDeleteDefinitely redder than red, those lips!
ReplyDeleteA red that is so bold as to color the lips!! Wonderfully stated
ReplyDeleteHugs
SueAnn
Sensual and sultry, Tess, loved it.:)
ReplyDeleteAgree with the previous poster...very sensual. Love that you communicate so much with such economy of words. Well done! Vb
ReplyDeletered hot, this poem.
ReplyDeleteA tale of 2 reds.....love this poem Tess! A smoldering hot write!! :-)
ReplyDeleteand then there are those red lips with the eyeball between them.
ReplyDeleteChagall is marvelous and so are you
This reminded me that I once knew a scarlet woman who lived in a red light district... he name was Ruby!
ReplyDeleteLove is like a red red rose -- but lust is scarlet... like this Tess... :)
ReplyDeleteI like the juxtaposition of celebrity and notoriety - these actress's celebrated seductiveness and poor Hester's shame...
ReplyDeletevery nice poem
ReplyDeletered is the accent wall of our home...
ReplyDeleteNice!..
JJRod'z