Indigo black is for ‘I’… #poetry #dVerse

It’s going to have to be black because
black tastes of late October
not all-black, of course
for all-black is not a colour but
an absence:
Inky black spills into my mind
on days when the sun won’t shine
inky black is for ‘I’ as in (Mood) Indigo:
here we go, down the whirlpool of the senses
inky-black, squid-ink taste words on the page
edible dye, indelible ink:
indigo black is for ‘I.’
Blue-black is the blood of the aristocracy
and of lobster before it screams into red in the pot
but we’re not talking of red and of ‘A’:
We are talking of black and of ‘I’
like black when it shines
in the eyes of a lover
like when it burns with white-hot fire as in
‘let not light see my black and deep desires’
is that the light at the centre of a black hole
which radiates out across the universe?
Black into white
dark into light
black is for I
shall banish the night
and unlearn the colour of I
till it shines
till it sings me goodnight.

© Experimentsinfiction 2020, All Rights Reserved

Written for dVerse Meeting The Bar: Synesthesia where host Grace has given us the following fascinating prompt:

‘The writing challenge: Today we will write about color from the perspective of a synesthete. Pick one color or several colors. Create your own Dictionary of Color. All sounds have color. The alphabet has color. Days of the week have color. Each day has a color and a certain shape.’

I don’t have any experience of synesthesia but my vatic voice told me ‘Black is for I.’ I guess you never know until you try!

I am also linking up to Earthweal’s Open Link Weekend. This is how I’ve been feeling in this strange first week of November in which the fate of our lives on Earth may well hang in the balance.

To close out here’s the late, great Nina Simone singing ‘Mood Indigo:’

Photo by Rahul from Pexels