Ruin - colors of the rainbow

RED is for blood

down freckled arms;

into still bleeding scars,

leaving

of brilliant crimson

on pale flesh.

For the feeling of adrenaline

pum-

pump-

pumping

through delicate blue veins

as cold iron slices

through them.

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YELLOW is for bubble-clouded eyes

and hearts

as your message

appears on the screen

black on blue background,

but still yellow to me.

For the happiest time of my life,

the color of a simple hello

from five years ago,

tucked away in my \m/i/n\d/.

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ORANGE is for fire

licking dangerously

at nibbled fingertips;

burn marks fresh.

For the way fire bites,

heavy and cloying is

the scent

of bUrNiNg skin.

For the warning signs F L A S H I N G

out at me from the side streets;

always present but completely ignored.

For dandelions, pretty

but they're only

infectious

W E E D S.

Like me.

into places where they

so clearly don't belong.

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GREEN is for green M&Ms,

my least favorite candy and color

but you always argued with me

that M&Ms were better than Skittles

(which they're not)

but now I realize

it was a way to distract me

from the messy rearrangements my organs like to make

in the breaths between sentences,

in the pause between words,

so that i had no need

for iron and nails

to tear apart my body

piece by piece

until i'm nothing but scraps of human

and shadow

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BLUE is for mushrooms,

the best kind, the impossible kind.

It's for delicate veins spiraling underneath skin,

an intricate web of kindness that only you could have.

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PURPLE is for the bruises

lining my b a t t e r e d

and b/r/ok\\e\n body.

It's for sickly sweet grapes;

artificial,

like the people i call friends.

You were never grapes,

you were salty butter,

on my tongue,

the crisp, sharp taste of tart black cherries

that aren't really black, but the richest purple.

***

We were the colors of the rainbow,

messy and BRIGHT,

but now i am only

blacks and whites.451Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSnNf68M6kV

ns216.73.217.2da2

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