Ink of Choice

Ink of Choice
Originally uploaded by lorenzodom

Ink of Choice

She asked me,
“What is your ink of choice?”
I wanted to answer,
“The kind that gets under your skin.”

“The kind where my words
make you want and feel;
The kind that peel away the fears
of peril, the fear that if you go
beyond, you won’t be coming back.”

“The kind of words that
make you desire—insatiably;
make you ache, interminably,
and pine to write me, if only,
for more of my words.”

This is my ink of choice.

Instead, I answered,
“Red."

The color of taboo,
the forbidden,
passion.

Blood red,
Crimson, Scarlet Letter A red—
Red.

Anisidine, poison red,
Madame Bovary
Red.

Bombay India, Vatsayayana,
Sir Richard Francis Burton
Red.

Red.

After a moment of silence
shared between us, I asked,
"So, do I get to choose…?"