Friday, March 9, 2012

Dictionary of Colors, by A. Brennan

Green is new life, and stomach aches. Kelly green is bad teachers, emerald green is false friends.

Red is strength: power and love and anger and all their extremes.

Blue is everything — water and sky. Dark blue is hope, clear blue is assurance.

Yellow is cleanliness and precision and clarity. Yellow is crystalline in the chemical sense, its atoms locked into a grid because they couldn't go anywhere else. If you break yellow into pieces, you will only get more yellow.

Orange is a chameleon: carefree with pink, clever with purple. I don't trust orange.

Purple is solidity, purposeful but not uninteresting. Dark purple is comfort, violet is fickle.

Pink is wavering, easily swayed, stronger in small doses.

White can't be pinned down, is always fluttering just out of reach. It might prove faithful, if it ever allowed itself to be caught.

Brown is warmth: coffee and blankets, puppies and firewood. Brown is home.

Black is tempting, enticing, and all-encompassing.