yellow is the colour of my nails and my skin
yellow is the colour of my bones and my hair
yellow is the colour i see blazing from the sun
my fragile heart is yellow like me
like the world is around me
but i see a flash of red in the yellow tulips
and on my touch the flowers all turn red
the red, i see, seeps through my fingers and into my chest
till my heart is a yellow-red bubbling mess
and my world is red is all i see is red
and yellow is a myth, out of reach
for i am now red, red, red
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125,020 Literary Works • 672,734 Reviews
this line acts as a shift in the poem as the title color is introduced into the poem, disrupting the peacefulness of the yellow. Every line after this expresses a transition, an almost sudden one, from yellow to red. I also have to say I love this line:Hello majuli! Genevieve here to leave a quick review on your work the tulips are now read in honor of Review Month!
I just have to say, upon first read, I love this poem. You begin the poem with a clear image and color - yellow, which is a striking contrast to red. Because red is in the title, yet the poem begins with yellow, it instantly creates that sense of intrigue on where the poem is going to go. Throughout the poem, each image bleeds into the next, until yellow has turned to red and it's clear the tone has shifted. This is beautifully done.
Something that stands out to me about this line is that yellow + red typically makes orange, yet there is NO blending of the yellow and red of this poem. They remain as stark contrasts to each other, and never get confused. This only emphasis the contrast between the tone of "yellow" and "red". When people read about "yellow" it is typically associated with joy, happiness, light, friendship, and childhood. On the flip side, "red" is associated with experience, anger, passion, and emotion. This poem very much uses these colors as an inexplicit way to express a transition from one more "positive" connotation to one more filled with something deeper.
I think even though you focus on the colors and do not explicitly state the "what" or the "why" it is still beautifully done.
Also, cannot forget, this is only a part 1! With the poem ending in the line (great use of repetition as emphasis there), it leaves space and ambiguity to the poem and the reader instantly wants to know MORE. So having this be separated into parts is interesting and I am excited to read part 2 and see how these two poems work together!
If I could suggest anything, and even this is purely stylistic, I believe you could play with capitalization, structure, and grammar to give this poem an even stronger punch. Especially as it transitions from yellow to red, you can use the visual aspect of the poem to emphasize that even further!
Overall, this is a wonderful poem that I really enjoyed reading and I will be reading and reviewing part 2 right after this!
Thank you for posting this and I hope you continue to write and post. God bless ♡
thank you so much! i'll try my best to improve! >_<
Woah! I never read anything like that! Firstly, the catchy title. When I opened your poem I was like "wait.. the tulips were red. Why is all yellow?".
"yellow is the colour of my nails and my skin
yellow is the colour of my bones and my hair"
This starts with very normal stuff. Describing the colour of your parts. Quite normal to be in those colours! Leaves the reader thinkings "the narrator must really like this colour if they keep talking about it".
"yellow is the colour i see blazing from the sun"
This sounds nice! Leaving a warm feeling on reader!
"my fragile heart is yellow like me
like the world is around me"
Now this is when all turns around. Hearts aren't usually yellow. They are red. And the word "fragile". Is the narrator sick? Or is the narrator feeling weak? Like narrator's whole world. It's really ALL yellow. Maybe it isn't about colours? Maybe it's about weak, not changing body? Maybe it's about how narrator sees that everything stays the same, doesn't feel like it's good, but still does nothing to change it? Narrator just sees it, it's all.
"but i see a flash of red in the yellow tulips
and on my touch the flowers all turn red"
And now, there's a change! There's noticing more stuff! Narrator sees that the patterns can be broke, and tries!
"the red, i see, seeps through my fingers and into my chest
till my heart is a yellow-red bubbling mess"
A change of heart. Maybe the narrator is talking about how something had big impact on narrator's feelings? In good or in bad way.
"and my world is red is all i see is red
and yellow is a myth, out of reach
for i am now red, red, red"
The yellow is now foegotten, like it never even was there in the first place. A "myth". Now everything is red. "red, red, red" I love how the word "red" just kept repeating. But is a full change good? The are no more colours. Just red. Everything is still the same, just in different colour. Or maybe I'm just reading too much in it lol! But it has emotional potential. I really love it!
thank you!! i have to say, i love your reviews so much!! you totally get the idea of my poems, even in your part 2 review! thank you so much!!
I guess I'm just good at reading and understanding people's emotions hehe. And again no worries! It was a pleasure
Hey, majuli! This is Alex, here to review this fabulous poem you wrote. Let's get right in.
The titles is so catchy and cleverly written. It inevitably invokes curiousity in the minds of the readers- what color were the tulips earlier? It's even more amusing when you consider that most tulips are red to begin with, so this tulip must've been more rare and valuable to begin with. Is it's plummeting worth a metaphor for loss or tragedy? Only the poetry shall reveal. This stirred question acts as a great hook to pull the readers in, as I must admit it did me.
The imagery is vivid and mesmerising, putting me under its spell from the get go. The description of everything being yellow in the initial three lines is particularly fascinating. I like how while the first two describe the narrator's bodily features while the third lines switches to the Sun abruptly, making the reader make an unconscious correlation. I instantly envisioned the person standing under the blazing Sun, their blonde hair and skin glistening under it's golden light. It is nowhere mentioned explicitly but I feel like it was a deliberate move on your part. It's like you're leading the way my thoughts must run, truly remarkable!
I believe this line suggests more than what meets the eye. Skin, nails, bonds and hair- all being yellow is plausible but a yellow heart is unheard of. Also, the part 'like me' put me further into thought. The narrator being yellow, is she called herself and her heart a coward? Literally, her being yellow could refer to being pale, perhaps she's sick. But personally, I'm more leaning towards the deeper interpretation. A cowardly heart, is the narrator afraid to pursue love? That sounds like it! Without love, the heart is pale. The two meanings can even interconnect, but there is a chance that I'm merely over analysing.
So the tulips were yellow to begin with, ah yes makes sense with the world being all yellow. But they have a hint of red, I wonder where this is heading now. The second line reminded me of painting really. When you're using water colour and the landscape is painted yellow. Add a tinge of red and it takes over the yellow in an instant. It's just a deeper shade, is the obvious reason for it. I can see a similiar description here, she might even be the lead of a painting in progress, such a beautiful idea that is! But again, I have a feeling things go much deeper than the surface here. Red universally symbolises love, I can't help but wonder if the narrator has been touched by love and overcome by it.
This bit was so original though, I'm impressed. We see the red take over her heart now, in a way it's becoming what it should've been in the first place. I'm eager to read further if it really is the cupid's arrow though, because that's the best theory for the extensive symbolism I have so far.
This line particularly appealed to me from afar. What was the narrator's known reality mere moments ago, has now been reduced to a mere myth. A a single turn of the wheel of time and the situation flips entirely. What the narrator was fed up with, is now the nostalgia she yearns for. If yellow was indeed a symbol for cowardice, it's even more puzzling to think why the narrator wants to reach it now that she finally has love. Has things gone south in the matters of the heart? Maybe she's dealing with heartache, and wishes she never opened her heart to love to begin with- that way she wouldn't have ended up this vulnerable. A poisoned man will always prefer to die hungry.
Overall, this is such a peculiar poem. In my personal opinion, it was meant to be multifaceted. Take it at face value and you've got an entrancing poem about colours blending, as the red slowly bleeds into the yellow background, completely engulfing it. If you dig deeper, you might find themes of a blossoming love story. A heart initially reluctant, finally opens itself to the idea and paints itself red. But in what seems to be conflict, the narrator finds herself reminiscing her naivity when she was still yellow, it was more painless when her heart didn't bleed red in ache. It was such a captivating read, it was my pleasure reviewing it. Hope to read more from you very soon.
wow thank you so much!! i can see how you interpreted this poem, and many of them were thing i had not even noticed. however, you will receive no confirmation. my poems are to be vague and without a fixed meaning. thank you for reading!! part 2 is up now!!
I really like this. I like the vague yet specific language I think it keeps the reader engaged and the tone of the poem the only known thing about it which is very enjoyable emotionally. I interpreted this as being about growing up, correct me if I'm wrong, and I enjoy how the poem mentions the movement of time and never introduces it into the point of view of the speaker, for example "till" "on my touch" but never using the word "was" and only speaking in the present tense.You've done everything very well I'm having trouble finding criticism, if I had any criticism of the poem it might be about how the subjects could be more varied maybe but I feel like you've done everything very well and it all builds up to a good poem. Don't take that "criticism" seriously I just want to move you to make more cause this was good.
thank you so much!!
Really like this line! Almost like a chant, that's overlapping each other, and each sentence is part of the next. I'm not very sure on what this poem is really about, but I really enjoyed the way that it is written, the writing style is quite captivating.
This is a quite interesting line, the narrator seems to be affecting the flowers, and in turn, the flowers are affecting the narrator as well? Am I interpreting this wrong?
This is a good poem though!
thank you so much !! >_< the interpretation is totally up to the reader, no comments from this side