Cantaloupe

I
Brown floater, one-eighth inch wide
invades my green left eye,
swims across the surface
of my morning view
(hawk, true fir and spruce),
sinks to the bottom of my screen.
II
I lost my color vision,
ate white rice, black beans.
One sunny day I wore blue-tinted shades.
They gave me back textured grays,
melted my extremes. I could eat
red peppers, spinach, cantaloupe.

© 1995 by Joan Ross Blaedel

Joan Ross Blaedel is a Seattle visual artist and writer. Her poetry has been displayed on METRO buses and published in King County Commission's Written Arts. Her visual art is reproduced in The Raven Chronicles.