can still remember

when life was just yellow,

cornfields sprawling and

wheels whizzing down gravel paths.

auntie’s heart is gonna kill her

the doctor tells me

and then the universe pays its homage;

that grey twister 

stretching towards me

like the dainty, dying hands

of my mother.

visions of straw broomsticks

wind-blown debris--

and when I open my eyes

everything turns to color.