I would listen to my sister's record,
"Purple People Eaters," and wondered
if they would change colors after
they had eaten me. I was not a fan
of purple. When my mother got me
a purple sweater I made her return it
for a blander color. Purple was okay
on other people. The ones who wore
that color was making a fashion statement,
which I was unable to decipher. The word
"Violet" sounded nice, but it was just
another shade of purple. I called violets
butterfly flowers, because I
didn't like saying the color.
©
is the author of six books of poetry, Mother Said; My Therapist Said; Father Said; Before, During & After; and Stray Cat Blues. His work has been translated into thirteen languages including Icelandic, Turkish, and Macedonian. Garrison Keillor has read his work on NPR's the Writer's Almanac and he has included Hal's poems in his anthologies, Good Poems and Good Poems for Hard Times. Hal has performed and appeared on MTV's Spoken Word Unplugged, PBS's Poetry Heaven, NPR's All Things Considered, PBS's The United States of Poetry and Fresh Air with Terry Gross. Awarded a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship and a New York Foundation for the Arts fellowship, Hal is the former Poet Laureate of Queens, New York.
Sirowitz’s poem “Bugs Galore” also appears in this issue.
