The Lost Library of Marisa Silva Dunbar

poems originally published in Mojave He[art]



The Color You Remember Being

originally published in Spider Mirror

was vibrant and rich—

the inside of an ember,

saturated like the bright sandstone

earth of Sedona after

a long awaited rain.

The shocking smoothness

of the mercurochrome

you would pour on your belly

when infection set in a week after piercing.

You wanted to grow into a blood orange—

contain the sunniness of the rind,

and the dark crimson flesh that seemed

deep enough to drown in.

And here you are:

a faded watercolor gray,

like after an artist uses droplets

to lift the paint—erase a mistake.

Marisa Silva-Dunbar’s work has been published in IceFloe Press, Mineral Lit Mag, Rising Phoenix Review, Ghost Heart Lit, 24 Neon Magazine, Chantarelle’s Notebook, Cabinet of Heed, and Marias At Sampaguitas. She is a contributing writer at Pussy Magic. Marisa is the founder and EIC of Neon Mariposa Magazine. You can find her on Twitter and Instagram @thesweetmaris.