What is the color?

What is the color, when black is burned?

Anti Mass by Cornelia Parker










It's a line from Neil Young's "I am a child" and it's been haunting me for days. "I am a child" is clearly about his father, and then this line, dark and sad, is stuck in the middle.

What is the color when black is burned? It speaks to me that when black is burned it's no longer a color, it's beyond that. It's a feeling, a trigger, something that is registered in the gut, not abstractly like color but somatically like pain.

When black is burned it's something that was there that is no longer. Whatever burned it, burned it away. When Neil was young, his mom left his father- she packed their bags and took off with Neil. So what is the color of black when burned?

When black is burned it's not a color it is loss.

I remember my parents at this time of year. They died 5 years ago. They were always there, and now they are gone. That is the color when black is burned.

"I Am A Child"

I am a child, I'll last a while.
You can't conceive
of the pleasure in my smile.
You hold my hand,
rough up my hair,
It's lots of fun
to have you there.

God gave to you,
now, you give to me,
I'd like to know
what you learned.
The sky is blue
and so is the sea.
What is the color,
when black is burned?
What is the color?

You are a man, you understand.
You pick me up
and you lay me down again.
You make the rules,
you say what's fair,
It's lots of fun
to have you there.

God gave to you,
now, you give to me,
I'd like to know
what you learned.
The sky is blue
and so is the sea.
What is the color,
when black is burned?
What is the color?

I am a child, I'll last a while.
You can't conceive
of the pleasure in my smile.