White

George Washington powdered his wig

white.  Womens’ hair whitens when they let it

and old men’s too where they still have it. 

Shaving cream and Ivory Soap.  Marshmallows.

Wonder Bread.  Milk.  Whipped cream

on french vanilla ice cream.  At the Museum

of Modern Art: White On White,

Kazimir Malevich, 1918.  Linen sheets

with high thread counts that receive you kindly

after a day in the sun.  Clam shells  

scallop, and oyster shells bleached

to reflection on South beach.

In Edgartown, Dr. Fisher’s house is white

and the captains’ houses on Water Street

and the picket fences around them.  The Old

Whaling Church and other churches, but one

is brick with white trim.  At the tennis court,

white clothes are required, though the balls

are yellow.  Clothes are also required

at the District Court, but no color is specified.

Diners in white, sit at white tables

and wipe their mouths with white napkins. 

In 1967, the Moody Blues sang Knights

In White Satin.  Perhaps women wear

white lingerie and men whitey tighties.  

Ceremonial robes of the Pope and Bedouin.

Queen Victoria was married in white

and western brides after her.  But not

in India or China, where brides wear red

and white is the color of mourning.

The morning sun catches each lighthouse –

Cape Pogue first, then Edgartown, East

Chop, West Chop, and finally Gay Head

which is red and must be moved.  You

can see all five if you start early and sail

with the tide and a northeast wind.  Sailboats

have white hulls and white sails,

but 100-year old Herreshoff sails

can be tanbark, and the fleet at Nantucket

parade with rainbow sails.  Rainbow

colors don’t include white, except before

the prism of rain where sunlight

includes all colors.

The Dove of Peace is pure white.  So was Jaws.

Moby Dick.  Cod that saved the Pilgrims

their first snowy winter.  Swans, no longer at Wasque. 

Ghosts.  Phantoms.  Unicorns.  Snow White. 

White Christmas, Bing Crosby, 1954.  White out

in the fog.  Wite-Out on typed pages.  White paper

for printers.  White papers for Presidents.

White wash.  White noise.  White collar jobs. 

White lies, damn lies and statistics, perhaps Mark Twain.

Oceans white with foam.  Alabaster cities gleam. 

Poles for flags.  Stars and white stripes

that once stood for purity and innocence. 

White wine.  White froth on dark beer.  Lines

of cocaine.  A Whiter Shade Of Pale, Procul Harum,

1967.  Two aspirin the morning after.

White is a new beginning.  Wiping the slate

clean.  White amplifies everything that comes

after it, like grass stains on a Red Sox uniform.

It is the color of the page before the poem. 

The canvas before the art.  The sheet of music

before the notes.  It is the possibility 

of everything.