Primary Colors
Michael J. Arndt
"Primary colors in painting," said Miss Weseloh when I was
in second grade, "are red, blue, and yellow. All other colors may be mixed from these colors. Except white. You can't mix
white.
"White light," said Professor Cole when I was in college, "contains the entire spectrum of colors. To mix any color of light, you may use the colors red, blue, and green. Green not yellow is primary."
Green, not yellow
My closet, ten years after I dressed in green, contains no
green clothing-except a torn field jacket.
No, my eyes are not green, they're hazel. Hazel, not green.
I don't go camping. I know it's beautiful. The woods are so
so thick, you see nothing but green for miles---like the jungle.
You see, a color slipped out of my spectrum and refracted my perception of the simple; bended my mind backward into itself illuminating shadows, where the wiring all has been cut.
A color can do that. A color can haunt. A color can wound.
Even innocent, primary colors.
Take, for instance Yellow, not Green:
"And we can see their faces now as they're coming off the plane. A man and two women. I believe its Bruce Laingen. And the
women have yellow ribbons in their hair."
The plane touched down into the first snow I'd seen in 372 days.
I got off---No one. Didn't I tell her the right time? "Please
follow the yellow concourse to the main terminal." I'm home.
"As the buses moved toward West Point, they were met by a sea
of yellow."
"Guide-on 1-9, this is Blue Max. E.T.A.--02. Pop smoke for
identification."
"This is Guide-on 1-9, Smoke is popped."
"Roger, Guide-on, I have you now. I identify yellow."
"This is Guide-on. That's affirmative. Yellow. Request fire
power on N.V.A. position. 50 meters whiskey of yellow smoke."
"As the former hostages were received by the President, each wore a small yellow ribbon attached to his or her lapel. This has become almost a badge of honor."
"Gentlemen, welcome to the republic of South Vietnam. You have been assigned to one of the greatest fighting units of the entire U.S. Army, The First Calvary Airmobile. On your shoulder, you will wear the patch that symbolized our heritage. Jokes are often made about it, about the size, design, and color: the horse they never rode, the bridge they never crossed, and the yellow speaks for itself. We never have been, nor Gentlemen, will we ever be YELLOW!"
"The huge yellow ribbon around the F oshay Tower appeared over night thanks to hard work and a major financial contribution. It changed the face of the entire building. Beautifu1!"
The skin was a rather waxy texture. The arms are locked
in such a way that carrying the stretcher through the thick bamboo causes the body to catch and fall, pulling the poncho off the head. Around the eyes, circles of yellow flesh twisting the mouth to a grin.
"The color yellow as symbolized by the ribbons, has become overnight an outpouring of a nation's joy, pride, and love for one another."
"As long as you're in my unit we have one goal--to kill as
many of those slant-eyed yellow gooks as we can."
I love dandelions, butter, the sun, the sweet fragrance of the
yellow rose which says: for-get-me-not.
I can not I can not The most vivid of the primary colors is red.
Blood red.
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