Beige
pale
ordinary
blending in
unnoticed
unseen
unheard
It wasn't what she wanted to be
But you can't always get what you want
Red
vibrant
standing out
noticed
seen
heard
She wanted to be all those things
She believed deep down she was
If only the rest of the world
believed it too
~Elise Skidmore ©2025
I don’t know … I kind of like being beige in my real life. It’s more peaceful somehow. I can “be” vibrant in my fiction, and leave it aside when it exhausts me. 🙂
I see your point. It’s nice to curl up with a good story, but living that story is probably not what we think it would be in our imagination. This poem came from a prompt to write a “color” poem, which is a broad place to start, so I was trying to get away from fall colors or the blues, etc. Then I remembered a conversation I’d had with someone recently about the colors we choose to wear and why. Beige is never my go-to because I’m so fair and it washes me out, but I think we all feel those beige feelings from time to time. We want to be seen and heard, even if we don’t want to be the center of attention.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts!