the purple front door

there's at least

a dozen

coats of paint on the front door.

it's an archeology

dig

as i burn the layers

off, one by one

getting down

at last to bare wood.

there's red, and red again,

then green,

then blue.

thin layers of hardened

paints,

scraped off like

wet glue.

the eyes that have seen

these colors

are mostly gone now.

but how they must have

loved their

purple door at one time,

perhaps

with a wreathe

hanging on a nail,

centered over the peep hole.