Samuel Gachon
Purple-Coloured
Purple like violets that grow in the fields
Purple like the butterflies that feast on them
Purple like the sky over the mountains as the sun sets
Purple like the coral that dies from our greed
Purple like the bruise left after the punch
Purple like the villain who killed our heroes
Purple like Prince’s rain and Jimi’s haze
Purple, colour of the rich and the royals
Purple like blue water soiled by red blood
Purple like brown earth without its yellow sun
A Purple Star
A purple star in the night sky.
Larger and brighter than the rest.
Its light is all that I see.
What is it hiding?
Is it hiding life out there in the stars?
People going about in its purple fields?
Perhaps they are intrigued by our blue star?
Do they make movies about us invading them?
Is it hiding storms under its purple clouds?
Too large for us to grasp, too intense to imagine?
What elements give it its colour?
What dangers prevented life from emerging?
Or is it just a ball of gas, a remnant of some long-dead star?
What did it look like before it went out with a bang?
Was it always purple? Or was it a different colour?
Will we ever know, we who are stuck in the present?
I fall asleep watching this purple star.
What is it hiding? Perhaps it is not for us to know.
After all, we are slowly taking the blue out of our star.
Turned it to brown and grey, cemented away the purple flowers.
At least there is still that purple star.
Author: Samuel Gachon is an emerging writer living in Brisbane, currently in the third year of his BFA in Creative Writing at QUT. His work has been published in ScratchThat and AntipodeanSF, and he also works as a freelancer for Collider. You can find his website here: Samuel Gachon (wordpress.com)
Artist: Georgia Hennessy is an emerging artist, based in Brisbane. Her art varies in mediums and styles – and whether it’s paintings, handmade cards, jean bags, or pottery – she likes to challenge and confuse the human mind. You can find her @georgiahennessyyy or @moonncrab on Instagram.