Daniel Amster

Refraction

stability: red. Muted sweatpants thrown on to catch
the bus that always stops on the side of the highway as an act

of mercy. Yellow, a crayon’s mark on History
pages in the absence of a coloring book; in the presence of white

kitchen lights camouflaging the work. Orange
is the paper that gets too

close to the gas stove. Brown is proof
that the house ate your homework while blue

is the sound of methane and stifled gasps, because we decided
tears are not clear: that they just water

the dirt where answers once were. Beliefs sprout from
the black outlines contextualizing love as green. Purple complements

the phone book in the color of the forgotten;
the phone book considered calling. In college,

moonshine accompanies a teal bra while Hey Kidsey KidHey
by Molina kicks it off. The pantyhose consists of classroom

walls. Rainbows are a promise that the world will not end
in a Baptist offering

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Daniel Amster is the Head Prose Editor for 149 Review. He graduated from Salisbury University.