It’s as if suddenly the vision of half the country’s 
citizenry’s camera lenses have had their picture planes 
set on the exact focal point of the 1950s’ Crayola® “Flesh” tone. 
And the refracted skin tones of real color, tawny, dark, 
light, coffee with or without cream, all these are not only 
out of focus, but have slid completely out of view. 

While the rest of us, who make up the remaining half, 
still have our Achromatic Lenses, the ones that show us 
the kaleidoscope we truly are, the wondrous variations 
of pigmentation, the myriad of hues that comprise 
the rainbow that God intended us to be, all in sharp focus, 
our skins aglow with that inner beauty our soul’s bright light 
provides, the assortment of colors that God said S/He truly loves. 

Publisher’s Note:

As per Crayola® (owned by Hallmark Cards): “The Crayola Crayon colour name flesh was changed to peach in 1962 to recognize that not everyone’s skin tone is the same. Throughout our history, we’ve continued to take steps to offer more inclusive products, as we believe every child should be able to creatively and accurately colour themselves.”

Quoted from Crayola® Canada’s FAQ: “When was the colour ‘peach’ introduced?” (link retrieved on 6 April 2025):
https://www.crayola.ca/faqs/why-does-the-colour-quotfleshquot-not-appear-in-the-1958-limited-edition-box-of-64

Roy J. Beckemeyer’s

poetry collections include The Currency of His Light (Turning Plow Press, 2023) and Mouth Brimming Over (Blue Cedar Press, 2019). Stage Whispers (Meadowlark Books, 2018) won the 2019 Nelson Poetry Book Award. Amanuensis Angel (Spartan Press, 2018) comprises ekphrastic poems inspired by modern artists’ depictions of angels. His first book, Music I Once Could Dance To (Coal City Press, 2014), was a 2015 Kansas Notable Book. With Caryn Mirriam-Goldberg, he co-edited Kansas Time+Place: An Anthology of Heartland Poetry (Little Balkans Press, 2017). His poetry has been nominated for the Pushcart Prize (2015, 2020, and 2024) and for Best of the Net (2018), and was selected for The Best Small Fictions 2019.

A retired engineer and scientific journal editor, Beckemeyer is also a nature photographer who, in his spare time, researches the mechanics of insect flight and the Paleozoic insect fauna of Kansas, Oklahoma, and Alabama. He lives in Wichita, Kansas, where he and his late wife would have celebrated their 63rd anniversary in November 2024.

Please visit author’s website for more information about his books, as well as links to selected works, and to interviews and readings (scroll down his About page for the latter link-list).

More on the Web: By, About, and Beyond

⚡ The Gardener’s Caesura, ekphrastic cheribun by Beckemeyer in homage to his wife, Patricia (1942–2024); published in MacQueen’s Quinterly (Issue 24, August 2024) and awarded Second Place in MacQ’s Cheribun Challenge

⚡ Megarhyssa, ekphrastic poem by Beckemeyer in MacQueen’s Quinterly (Issue 14, August 2022), nominated by MacQ for the Pushcart Prize

⚡ The Color of Blessings in MacQueen’s Quinterly (Issue 5, October 2020), nominated by MacQ for the Pushcart

⚡ Featured Artist in KYSO Flash (Issue 12, Summer 2019); showcasing Beckemeyer’s poetry, prose poetry, and insect photography

⚡ Words for Snow, a prose poem in KYSO Flash (Issue 9, Spring 2018), which was selected for reprinting in The Best Small Fictions 2019