Color Me

I planned a massacre

   In black ink, seeing green

      Skies and blue leaves, under

         The same tree they tried

            To hang me from.

               Color me violent, they

                  Colored me violent, searched

                     For my remains in a purple room

                        With purple black lights,

                           They beat me purple under

                              A black night, stained my

                                 White shirt with chartreuse

                                    Remnants of my innocence,

                                       They colored me homicidal,

                                          Little did they know they

                                             Etched hit lists into my skin

                                          When they stepped on my neck

                                       Like a creature, I never wanted

                                    To be a spider. I colored myself

                                 Grey, so I never knew about scarlet

                              Until I bled scarlet from my wounds,

                           Read his sapphire eyes, they burned

                        Like the twisting of my wrists and

                     The tears on my back from 90 lashes

                  With a whip, my skin must be worthless,

               Worth less than the name badge tattooed

            On his chest, you made me a murderer,

         Colored me in between the lines with lies,

      You colored me a menace.

   And now, I get to color you.

I’m thinking Mahogany.

~ Kai Alexander Means