#447 Backstory of the Poem “Lamp of Color” by Patricia Gomes and published in the anthology HIGH TIDE STILL HEART. HTSH edited by Tirza Valeria Garcia Olivares and Lucy Ross. The final edit is by Blue Crystal Literary Magazine editor Richard Phillipos. It is published by Blue Crystal Literary Magazine on May 8, 2026.
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Can you go through the step-by-step process of writing this poem from the moment the idea was first conceived in your brain until final form?
I can, and only because the image stays sharp in my mind to this day. I was staying at a condo on the Cape, taking a three-day pause from the insanity that is life. I was contemplating a break from the person I was with and went out on the deck for a cigarette.The day was bleak, rainy, and raw. The fog was the thickest I’d ever seen. Winter. The Cape was grayed-out and dead silent.
Out of nowhere the couple came into view. Both so small, so fragile, so unnaturally quiet. As the wind gusted, they held onto each other for dear life. I would not have noticed their passing if not for her vibrant red coat. The scene looked like a Japanese ink drawing. Various tones of black, light, medium, dark, and just a touch of red for interest. My pen flew as soon as I went back inside.
Where were you when you started to actually write the poem? And please describe the place in great detail.
I was at a time-share in Dennisport, MA that I owned at the time. My month allotted time was the first week in December. Who books the Cape in December. Right? Writers. Masochist that we are. Beautiful place, though — huge deck with a hot tub I would never use, sliding glass doors with a spectacular view of the ocean, gas fireplace … absolute heaven, had I been alone.
The sad picnic tables on the beach spoke volumes to me. They signified the end of the year, the end of themselves as useful, the end of things going on in my life, at the time.
What month and year did you start writing this poem? December, 2008. I was thinking how much holiday prep I had left to do at home and beating myself up for selfishly taking time out of my schedule.
Were there any lines in any of your rough drafts of this poem that were not in the final version? And can you share them with us? No. The poem, as published, is as it was written.
What do you want readers of this poem to take from this poem? The couple, weathering the storm, metaphorically speaking. Clinging to each other, supporting each other, Preventing the other from danger. Read that last part as preventing the other from failure and let that stick with the reader.
In Eastern cultures, that is what commitment means — constant support and kindness. Western culture does not value those practices as does the East and we seem to devalue commitment in favor of self.
A Qing dynasty wedding. The groom’s parents are seated. The bride is the one in the center wearing a red dress and blue headpiece, presenting tea to her mother-in-law.
Which part of the poem was the most emotional of you to write and why?
The visible relationship of the couple. It’s something we look for, hope to find, but we’re often disappointed as much in ourselves as in our partner. “Oh, look — I did it again! Another lackluster situationship.”
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