Anti-war books are as likely
to stop war as anti-glacier books
are to stop glaciers.
~ Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.
about Slaughterhouse Five
(untitled)
I wish I had never seen red.
I would give up ripe tomatoes and wine.
I wish I had never seen blue.
I would give up the migration of indigo buntings.
I wish I had never seen green.
I would give up my tree and cilantro.
I wish I had never seen yellow.
I would give up canary wings, lemon-butter.
I wish I had been born into a colorless world,
of no difference.
No blood.
No bluebabies.
No gangrene.
For no more bruises,
I would give up summer grapes,
milk with blackberries,
and, along the fence, my purple irises.
— Bonnie Roberts
This poem was previously published in Peacelines (Pudding House); To Hide in the Light (Elk River Review Press); and The Sampler (Alabama State Poetry Society)
Uni-verse
