Ode to Gray
Has anybody written an ode to gray?
Well, if not, let me be the first. Let me praise
The charcoal pit, tweed suit, and cloudy x-ray
That reveals, to your amateur dismay,
Nothing you understand. Who has been amazed
Enough to write a breathy love song to gray and gray’s
Nearly imperceptible interplay
With other grays? O, how beautiful the haze
Of charcoal pits, tweed suits, and cloudy x-rays
Of airport luggage. I love the dog day,
The long delay, and existential malaise.
Has anybody written an ode to gray?
If not, then let me proceed without delay.
O, let me construct an army made of clay.
Marching, marching, they will be my ode to gray,
To charcoal pit, tweed suit, and cloudy x-ray.
-Sherman Alexie
“An army made of clay....”- this line, in particular, painted a picture for me- the irony of assembling these grays into one formidable force...and if we twist enough humor into them then it becomes more Uniting- an army that we all struggle with. The Gray.
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