The mouth full of rubies,
or teeth that look like rubies,
the obsession with value
the recurring dream
so young the memory of
faded glory jeans
tossed into a basket stained with blood
the color of rubies.
Beginning the obsession with value.
How much blood could I bleed
for any one thing.

The basketball thrown from half-court
at the end of the fourth quarter
smashing the backboard,
going in the hoop,
gold rains down.
Again priceless but I’d like to put a number on it.
Again and again, the recurring dream in different ways,
now a mouthful of teeth shattered and falling out
mouths the words “please,
tell me what I’m worth.”

On the bleachers
all the red faces in rows
all the red faces looking like rubies
and look how I try to order the world
in rows of rubies,
again an obsession
with structures of value
and giving value to structures-
-The game,
a structure
-The court,
a structure
-Me,
a structure.

“Please,” the mouth mouths,
“see the way the light hits all of this,
how it breaks into star shapes.
Look at my blood next to it,
see how the colors match,
and let it be precious.”

***

Colin McArthur is writing poetry, fiction, and recently started the film blog ‘Weight of Frames’. He currently resides in Portland, OR, where he plays music, cooks, and names geographies after his corgi, such as ‘Julep Lake’ or ‘Julep Mountain’. He studied English and writing for two years at Portland State.