Running through the blood of humankind is the erubescent glow of a ferrous element

Oxygenating the sanguineous carrier: a primordial stain that resides in the veins, rocks, rivers and mantle

of this raddled earth

A birthmark of cosmogenic affinity with the red skinned planet

ritually touched, it has been called a native pigment

Ground, blown, spattered and drawn

contouring the flesh, rubifying the text, and colouring the tongue

as Indian Red, Morelle Salt, Colcothar, miltos, sinopia, Burnt Sienna

Mars Red and Haematite