Pastel Projection

By. Ashley Wheat

I asked to keep
the lights off—
and in the pitch black
you pulled me in with
your tongue,
your breath:
a potent perfume
of paint and parchment—
orchestrating
a masterpiece,
a pastel projection
in my mind
where crimson colored
frames now
border, embrace
the once greyest
part of my brain.

Yet—
at the end of it all
I wanted to love you
in the worst way:
under the blood moon
we spoke in sighs
and I mistook your
siren strain,
salt-stained shirts
for closure
in all the wrong
spaces that I was
so desperate to fill.

Ashley Wheat is Oklahoma born and raised, but grew up in the Ozark mountains with her father (her muse), and the deer that roamed their backyard. She is a published poet and is the Chief Editor and Design Director for The Oklahoma Women’s Journal, a submission based magazine that helps give women a voice, and share their beautiful work with the world. For her day job she works in the fire division at a disaster restoration company, and helps restore people’s lives after they’ve experienced the worst day of their life. She also helped start up Women in Restoration—a feature for the company that highlights its backbone: women. In her free time she loves spending time with her friends, playing horror video games with her boyfriend, and running around their new backyard with her dog, Daisy.

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