detail & light would be lost
without the dichotomy around grey

the way ‘&’ illuminates value
on both sides, conjoining the two into one

spectrum blends the extremes
into a clear image—light
highlights the subtitles
—the deaf are not the only ones
who cannot hear the absurdity
of absolute separation

black & white turns back
time into intervals of past
in a world of color
the absence strips away the present

caricature is transparent without color
in the lawless old western plains
good is easily found through
the black mask and white hat
bad is easily found through
white face-paint and black hair

even though ‘and’ does not
hold accountable, as one,
what it surrounds itself by
but rather as two distinct values

separation by ‘and’ becomes absurd
when the color has been stripped
down to the bare where ‘&’ allows
grey to highlight the similarities