Stretching canvas

I have surely struggled with prime colors
in a watercolor painter's way.
Too much moisture on the brush
and yellow yields to tear,
green grows in as a weathered lawn,
diluted hearts bleed pink.

My palette forgets
pastels are colors, too.
Pale
can paint with (shhh) enduring novelty
on the big bright world.
Love
can be light blue.

Hyphenate

Every question ends in semi-colon;
or comma,
or pair of ellipses... ...
They wrap themselves around my arms
tattooed into restless fickle freckled skin
shoulders to wrists
two sleeves of impaled and imperfect punctuation
period.
I fear the question mark
fly from it
leave the hyphenates to fend for themselves
flattened horizontal pebbles left a stone's throw away
abbreviated dashes---
they don't ask why



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