“Synesthesia,” a poem written and performed by Haley Mudrick ’15 for the Creative Writing Morning Meeting Presentation in January, was selected as a “Topical Winner” for the Spring 2015 “Love and Dedication” issue of the The Live Poets Society of New Jersey. The morning meeting poems were written on the themes of red and/or black. Haley says: “Synesthesia is a condition in which the stimulation of one sense causes an automatic secondary sense impulse. The poem is based on the most common form, grapheme-color synesthesia, in which letters and numbers appear to be certain colors. Because of this, I see the number 9 as red. I conceived of this poem because I was reminded of my childhood impression that the number nine and red are related.”
Synesthesia
If nine were a color, it would be rust red—
the color of my cousin’s old barn
splashed with mud the horses send flying.
It would be the color of my bright red nails after digging in the yard,
dirt overflowing,
nestling between nail bed and cuticle,
rusting them brown.