most monochromatically not

I’ve never seen the world
in quaint, stark black and white
even as a child, vivid shades
of gray were crystal clear

I have always seen life for what
it really is; unnamed, unruly tints
and hues both opaque and austere

seeing life as purely black-and-white
takes a special color blindness that
I did not inherit via nature or nurture

in the life-box of sixty-four Crayolas
the cylinder labeled ‘Ambiguous’ is
neither a shade of black nor hue of white
and gray is simply the most realistic arc
on color spectrum, the crayon always
in pieces in the box, broken from overuse,
flattened on one side from all the shading