People ask me about the color of my hair,
but they don’t care—why would they? —
about the color of my thoughts.
People ignore the pink-copper hues of my ideas—
gondolas gliding through my brain;
they don’t see their turquoise blue shades—
paper boats caught in a vortex.
People ask me about the shape of my eyes.
They won’t ask—not if I beg them—
about the shapes of my feelings.
They won’t inquire about
my hopes—round and furry—like coconuts,
or about my fears—angular and sharp—broken rocks.
Take my anxiety—I could cut a watermelon with it.
People ask about the taste of my food,
but not once will they ask
about the taste of my voice,
when alone, in a hammock at dusk.
Is it caramel-sweet, with a peppermint tang?
Or is it salty and tender,
like a freshly cooked trout?
People ask me what music I like,
but they’ll never ask, not in a million years,
what is the sound of my body.
Does it crunch to my pace
louder than the sand underfoot?
Does it hum a sweet lullaby
when I read a romance novella?
People are curious about the fabric of my clothes,
but they don’t wonder
about the texture of my dreams.
Are they bubbly and sparkling
like a bottle of wedding-day champagne?
Or are they smooth and soft
like whipped cream topping a funeral cake?
People ask all the wrong questions—
but what do they know!
Photo by Michelle Seixas from FreeImages
Adriana Morgan
Adriana Morgan completed a Ph.D. in French Literature at the University of Letters in Nantes, France. She is fluent in six languages and worked as a translator and terminologist at the European Commission in Luxembourg and the United Nations in New York. She taught French at the University of Jamia Milia Islamia, New Delhi, India, the French Alliance and the Universities of Valparaiso and Vina del Mar, Chile. She currently works as a multi-dimensional artist: painter, poet, and children's picture books writer and illustrator. She's been born in Bucharest, Romania, currently living in nice, France. Adriana is the first prize winner of the Midnight Mozaic Fiction (Medium, 2019), one of the selected winners of the Canadian poetry contest—Quebec and the Francophony, and second prize winner of the Daniil Pashkoff International Poetry Contest, 2018, Germany. Adriana Morgan's artworks and literary works have been published or are forthcoming in 'Beyond Words Literary Magazine', 'Infinity Room,' 'Spillwords', and 'Ullalume Lighthouse' among others.
