Of Color
published originally as a song by Marcus Amaker and tape loop
When someone asks you
why it hurts the earth
to pull one flower
from a field of flowers,
tell them you are the lilac
or the hibiscus,
growing and sunbathing
in a community of natural color,
and you know a lot of kinfolk
who have the same roots. Tell them
your kind of people are earth
people, and if there’s anything
you know, it’s the pain of one
of your petals being picked,
of your homelife disrupted by
fires, bugs, concrete, or men
who are too distracted by what’s
above them. Men who are too focused
on skylines to notice their dirty shoes
walking on sacred ground.
So, yes — when one of us is uprooted
or displaced from the soil
that raised us, we feel it. Tell them,
“You would feel it,
too — especially if the flower
looked like you, or was
anywhere close to the
same hue.”
Marcus Amaker, Charleston’s first Poet Laureate, balances daily naps with an eclectic career as a dad, husband, opera writer, and Academy of American Poets fellow. Inducted into the S.C. Literary Hall of Fame, he has published ten books and released 43 music albums. His reimagined version of “My Country, ‘Tis of Thee” was featured at President Biden’s 2021 inauguration by the Washington National Opera. His original opera, The Weight of Light, debuted in Chicago in 2024. Amaker’s work has garnered recognition from Literary Hub, The Washington Post, PBS Newshour, American Poets Magazine, and more.
The Marbled Sigh 