The Charles River Review

THE HARVARD EXTENSION SCHOOL WRITING PROGRAM

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Variations on Blue: Six Paintings

Mary Ellen Geer

The blue in the first
is pure cerulean:
the Maine sky
rinsed clear by ocean.

The second's two panels
are a study in contrasts:
soft early morning blue,
deep purple-blue of dusk.

Third, a view of woods:
the dark Prussian blue
of spaces between trees;
a feeling of being lost.

A forlorn blue-gray house
in the fourth; a child
could have painted it,
asked to describe loneliness.

Next, an interior:
the child's room?
An open door, cobalt blue.
No one comes in.

In the last,
the air is blue with loss;
jagged shards of grief
pile up at the bottom.


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