The Red Dress

The clock is ticking
Oh woman, the red dress
The one I started at nine, finished at four
Worshipped you at the changing rooms
Went the extra mile for the matching bag
Why do you keep me waiting
Oh woman, I stare in awe
You walk downstairs
Not in red, but black
With matching  bag
Like that was the way it was supposed to be
It then hit me
Slowly at first
Then the light shone through
That cataclysmic moment shook my entire being
Not realising the enormity of my find
I could see my face in Time magazine
Bold letters capturing the readers around the breakfast table
On billboards, buses passing by
The world would know
The red dress
The reason men go off to war.

Reviews

[emmajoy]

Each damned day's this or that metaphorical colour. Fact. Tween times, we women show life's moods in colour: red for danger.. blue for let's stay home an' make bread,.. pale yellow calm, making daisy chains.. and pure white, preferable silk, is a betrayal of two people's purity!

Nothing lighthearted about your extraordinary appraisal of how we observe reactions to our man-made colour-wheel-pendulum . You trip your readers through a sweet gift of how it should be.. til comes that tragedy dripping in red. You truly know how to say it...

[Paul Bell]

Yes Emma, colours are so important. They tell so much about the mood of a person. And we all know the tragic dress for that occasion.

[emmajoy]

Right now, forgive me, can't use that tragic colour.. but we all know what it is.

[Paul Bell]

Sorry Emma. Things will get better.

[Annette Pisano-Higley]

Drama, metaphor, imagery and message- all superb! I see Bogie and Bacall-she lighting the screen in color instead of b&w- in flaming red dress/mournful black dress...he- cigarette hanging from his mouth-overwhelmed by her beauty and life-sparing gesture...aaaahhhh. Red or black dress- "Here's looking at you kid." Be still my heart! Excellent poem!!

[Paul Bell]

Blast, i gave up smoking Annette. But just this one time. You walk down the stairs in Red, or black.
Okay Annette, where did the yellow dress come from. Keep to the script woman.lol

[Annette Pisano-Higley]

You are too much Paul! Glad you gave up those cigarettes! How about white dress today??:):)

[Paul Bell]

Okay, purity it is.

[Annette Pisano-Higley]

Red shoes though!:)

[Paul Bell]

I would say so.

[Einstein Noodle]

thought provoking and effective contrasts ... there can be great expectations over a woman in red ...but she presents herself in black ... it strikes me square between the shoulders Paul ... the mourning and death of war ... never worth one life lost .. but worth protecting God given rights and justice ... raising old philosophical discussions ... hmmmmmmmmm
very vivid metaphor and personifications says i ..great creative idea with the dresses and color
E.

[Paul Bell]

The comparisons of life in a dress. Do we say anymore.

[Einstein Noodle]

another poem perhaps ..."The Cross dresser" :)) hmmmmmmmmmmmmm!

[Coyote Poetry]

You are amazing Paul.
"The world would know
The red dress
The reason men go off to war."
You create perfect place and you left the reader with some logic. Thank you for sharing the amazing poetry.
Coyote

[The Iron Horseman]

You think? It was always the white dress for me!
I love it, Paul. A very evocative image.

[Paul Bell]

Good sign of purity.

[The Iron Horseman]

You must be joking! :)

[Gee]

I wouldn't swap this country for any other and can fully understand the sacrifices made over the years by many a brave man and woman.
We take so much for granted thanks to the many names, ages, dates chiselled into stone memorials

[Paul Bell]

Definitely. Doesn't get any better than rainy Britain.

[B]

I see so much in this piece
is it a female that people have went to war for
is it a country that you have personified as a female that everyone fought for
is it a concept that people have risen up for

i love how open your work is

[Paul Bell]

I suppose it's all different things. But democracy is so important to us. We'd die for it.

[B]

Oh dont get me started
there is no such thing as democracy
they make you believe soread moreOh dont get me started
there is no such thing as democracy
they make you believe so
no such thing

[Paul Bell]

To a point. But we're not North Korea yet.

[B]

The world is so different now
back when suffering was a way of life
no one cared to be heard
but only to survive a day
with no hunger, violence and having shelter
we changed so much ......

[Island Hippy]

Aloha Paul, brilliant! Inevitable that eventually we shed red dresses for black in the aftermath. Izzy

[Paul Bell]

It is Izzy. Hope you're still getting into the red dress.

[Island Hippy]

Haha... only just :) Mahalo Paul

[barleygirl]

WOW! You've done a great job of using these colorful symbols to paint a tragic picture about the duration & aftermath of war. "Red dress" is so symbolic of sexual attraction, yet "red" is also the color of blood & beating hearts. Great contrast of black & red, with all the heart-throbs & heart-aches that represents.

[Paul Bell]

Yeah strange how war seems to be stronger than ever now.

[barleygirl]

I'm trying to ignore the news for awhile. I overdosed on bad news with so much violence around the world. But I will have to peak & see what happened in the French elections today . . . *smile*

[Paul Bell]

Any luck Le Pen will get in, and Europe will collapse. lol

[jacob erin-cilberto]

we go to war for survival or hate or for dominance...and yet some soldiers go to war to impress the red dresses, unfortunately, many end up wearing black dresses of mourning---and that light dims.
j.

[Paul Bell]

Yes, war is ever present in our minds now.