Despite its reputation,
there is joy in the color—
berries and bonnets,
ocean and sky,
the eyes of a Siamese cat
or a person you love.

Perhaps its gray edges
mark it a suitable shade
for a slow skid to sadness,
but none of us should be judged
only by our duller hues.

Should you fall into the blues,
wallow in all of them,
not simply the deep bruise
of melancholy.

Enjoy most the holy
brightness of the truest
blue, a word that, when
you speak it, begins
with the pucker of a kiss
and ends
with that rush
of wonder: oooo.

Jo Angela Edwins has published poems in over 100 journals and has received awards from Winning Writers, Poetry Super Highway, and the SC Academy of Authors. She is the author of A Dangerous Heaven (Gnashing Teeth), Play (Finishing Line), and Bitten (forthcoming from dancing girl). She is the poet laureate of the Pee Dee region of the South Carolina.