In Love with Blue

Blue is my favorite color. My car
is blue—bright highlighter blue, 
easy to find in a parking lot.

My front door is blue—a shade
of blue visible from down the block.
And, in my dreams, there’s a sparkling

blue sapphire ring. Maybe I will ask for it
for my next big birthday, or just buy it
for myself one ordinary day.

My eyes are blue too. I didn’t choose 
the color of my eyes but I wonder 
if they inspire my love of blue.

I don’t understand why blue 
is equated with sadness. Singing the blues 
seems an unfair description. 

Some say that blue reminds us 
of rain or tears. Others say 
blue makes us feel cold.

But I persist in thinking of blue skies 
and the wide blue ocean illumined 
by sharp sunshine of July, the color
of jewels and my own blue eyes.



New in September 2022

Merriam-Webber added new words
to its dictionary—a reflection 
of what’s happening 
in our always changing world. 

So, ICYMI, here are some of them,
and, yes, they added ICYMI and FWIW.
(In case you missed it and for what it’s worth
for those who may not be up to date.)

Oat milk and plant-based showed up
for the first time, an indicator of how our diets
are evolving and how healthy
food options influence our language.

Booster dose and false positive (also false 
negative) are now part of our lexicon, 
thanks to the pandemic and the force 
of science to name and control it. 

Video doorbell and supply chain 
are new this year, too. Of course, delays 
in the supply chain probably will prevent 
you from getting your own video doorbell.

Fran Abrams has poems published online and in print in The American Journal of Poetry, The Raven’s Perch, Gargoyle 74, and many others. Her poems appear in more than a dozen anthologies. In December 2021, she won the Washington Writers Publishing House Winter Poetry Prize for her poem titled “Waiting for Snow.” In July 2022, her poem “Arranging Words” was a finalist in the 2022 Prime Number Magazine Award for Poetry. Her autobiographical book of poems, I Rode the Second Wave: A Feminist Memoir, will be released in late 2022 by Atmosphere Press. Her first chapbook, The Poet Who Loves Pythagoras, is forthcoming in 2023 from Finishing Line Press. Please visit franabramspoetry.com.

Image: “Blue Swirl” from Thomas Quine under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.