Based on the poem "What is Red?" by Mary O'Neill, what is said to happen if you have a slight cut on your hand? What about a deep cut? What does the...

The main
theme of the poem "What is Red" by Mary O'Neill is how one color can evoke a vast
array of feelings and responses. Some of these responses are cultural ("red is a fire
engine"; "red is a rubber ball") and some are inherent in the human experience
("red squiggles out when you cut your hand"). 

Ms. O'Neill seems to
paint the idea of the color red in the very phrasing of each line of her poem. The sentences are
short and blunt and overtly specific. "Red is a lipstick. Red is a shout. Red is a signal
that says 'WATCH OUT'."

Despite the many varying shades and hues of red
that could be referenced (i.e., scarlet, crimson, magenta) Ms. O'Neill deliberately repeats the
specific word "red" over and over again, until like the very color itself, the word
red is impressed harshly upon the brain.

Many of the things Mary O'Neill
describes in the poem "What is Red" are unpleasant: embarrassment, anger, a sunburn.
There's a sense that the author doesn't particularly enjoy her experience of the color red and
yet she is struck by its influence and finishes her poem by considering: "Red is a
show-off, no doubt about it. But can you imagine living without it?"