A Pair of Ruby Red Slippers Threw Up All Over My Dining Room Table by Kelsey Kessler The color of bloody Mary is so beautiful. The color of Shirley temple is so devastating. My favorite color has always been coughing syrup. My home is cover to cover in you. With an oxford couch, with carvings containing a bite of an apple. Scattered with poppy petals all over the fabric. With my dining room table looks like a pair of ruby red slippers threw up all over it With a friend of Dorothy’s sitting in a cardinal leather chair With a mahogany refrigerator containing cranberry juice and sangria Like a murder scene, bloodshed smeared across the cabinets & pomegranate seeds smudged across the table. I will confess I have fallen for the Dracula aesthetic. I have purchased wine stain lipstick. The fake red velvet hair dye The raspberry cherry bomb cake My favorite color has always been wine. I want to be so drunk in love it makes me want to devour you whole. I want to create stains of you all over my white blouses. I want you to be my surgeon and open my heart like a pomegranate. I want to exchange our scarlet letters in velvet waxed envelopes. I want your thorn bush to rip at the seams of my dress. It is the color of your Carrie tattoo at the bitter end of your fingernails. Consistently using that powerful voice of yours while applying your cherry lipstick To get exactly what you want at the coffee counter. And I admire you for that. I am in love with the fact that all of our heartbreaks have begun with you. I don’t look for a seal of approval within you. I don’t believe in or care about masculinity or femininity. I am just intrigued by what they call you when you transform like a chameleon. Scarlet, crimson, carmine, flame, burgundy, coral, safflower, garnet, jam, maroon I am obsessed when you step in a room, and everyone has some type of opinion of you Trendsetter You could be wearing the most lavish outfit, and everyone convinces themselves they are wearing that same outfit the next day. How you always have a gruesome response to any comment anyone tells you. How people want to pour you glasses of wine like they are under your spell My unconditional lover You are my highest craving, rare steak craving, wisest love of my life If you are my enemy and my enemies always begin as lovers Then I love you
Hear Kelsey Kessler recite the poem on the Viewless Wings Poetry Podcast:
Submit your polished poetry for the opportunity of being published on ViewlessWings.com and being interviewed on the Viewless Wings Poetry Podcast.
Kelsey Kessler is a queer poet, social worker, and artist from Baltimore, Maryland and is currently based in Boston, Massachusetts. She has been published in Ariel Magazine and Pink Disco Magazine. She writes poetry about queerness. Kelsey enjoys using imagery and personification to discuss the theme of queerness. She currently performs poetry at poetry open mics at Cantab Underground. You can find her poetry on:
Instagram @kelssey.anne and on TikTok @kelseyakwrites
