13thWR

MY CHILDHOOD EYES

Once my blue eyes burned red like a sunlit fox,
Burned red and excited when I saw red ants on red roses.

But I was sent to school. The teacher immediately
Tied a black blindfold over my red eyes.

She then painted her drab, gray eyes on my blindfold.
I was to see the world with her eyes painted on my blindfold.

I saw Ferris wheels, limousines, rock singers, Wall Street,
Eyes scraping off blues, browns, to become all white.

I saw the graveyard eyes of the people she celebrated.
When class ended, I washed her eyes off, stumbled through life.


- Duane Locke