Reds

After Devon Miller-Duggan, “Oliver Leamy (10 months old) spending the morning waving a red sock”

Today we spent the morning around
     a red table
     on a red carpet
     We ate tomatoes and carrot sticks
     and capsicum dip, creamy orange
     flecked with red
     I wore a red bra
     to hold my white breasts
We talked about a poem whose white baby
     waved a red sock and took it
     on and off his foot
     It referenced a famous
     poem about a wheelbarrow
And I thought of how many reds
     I seem to need
     to counter the grayscale of things,
     the black sofa, the white walls,
     the black amp and speakers,
     the white ceiling, the light fittings and shadows there,
     the dark gray screen in its pale gray plastic frame,
     the sky,
     the people’s hair,
     my charcoal dress, my black woollen socks,
     all the paper,
     my cold morning fingers, my eyes