Tonight I went Red
like the fire within my belly

Red like flames
burning the Statue of Liberty
on a poster in Chennai
two days after I heard the unimaginable

Red like the blood
a shamaness in Karl Marx
painted across my threshold
to prevent something from getting in
or perhaps from getting out

Red like shone from the eyes of a lover
in the days when I thought love
was supposed to flame

Red like the water in Jalal-Abad
where not too many years ago
Kyrgyz and Uzbek neighbors
slit each other's throats like holy sheep
while blood-red rivers
ran into a mud-red river
declaring victory for Soviet cartographers

Tonight I went Red
knowing hatred and fear are colorless
and white fire burns as well

Tonight I went Red
like the most exquisite lips
where love tasted like strawberries and wine

Red like the heart of a boy
who risked his life and village
to be my truest friend

Red like the apples
sent home with me
by an old woman
with little else to give

Red like the blood that flows
inside every soldier
on every side
and stains just as dark
on every color hand