THE LAST FIFTH GRADE OF EMERSON ELEMENTARY

THE LAST FIFTH GRADE OF EMERSON ELEMENTARY
April 12, 2016

Monday, February 3, 2014

Monument, Purple Reign: 2014 Poetry Project

Writerly Friends, what is that song I hear?



Oh, you meant that one of today's Pantone®  Poetry Project colors is Purple Reign.


Purple Reign
Pantone® 19-3620

Did that deep purple get you writing today? Or were you visualizing a solemn Monument?


Monument
Pantone
® 17-4405

Here is Diane Mayr's (Random Noodling) contribution for Day 3 of our project, shared with her permission.




I used one of the suggested prompts today. What if someone were in a room with Monument-colored walls? Instead of starting from scratch for this exercise, I used a character from my WIP -- a YA speculative fiction novel. The color helped me create a brief character sketch.


In a Fortress on the Moon
by Laura Shovan


Limestone, it’s called,
but that’s a lie. I’ve seen the fruit
Earth folks call lime. Green citrus.
Tangy, sour. By Earth logic,
these limestone walls should be
so green they nearly bite
my eyes with color. But this place
is not the color of fruit –
not from Earth or any other planet.
Its walls are gravestone gray, solid,
still as a hero’s monument. Gray
as this hunk of castoff meteor
where I’m stuck ‘til I earn passage home.
As if the Moon weren’t gray enough,
they built this fortress of
so-called limestone. The only color
on the Moon is the faraway blue
of Earth. That and the pale purple
of my alien skin. 

I promise, this character had pale purple skin before I saw today's colors. This combination of gray and purple was a happy happenstance.

Margaret Simon (Reflections on the Teche) worked both of today's color names into her poem. I am amazed that a prompt as simple as "write in response to a color," helped Margaret create this powerful, evocative poem. 


Snow Monument Garden 
by Margaret Simon

Animal tracks
dot the lines
of the over-life sized
bronze statue,
stuck in mid-sentence.
The still cold arm
glistens pewter-purple
reigning over lists,
soldiers’ names who,
one by one,
sacrificed warmth
for a line on the stone.

Posted with permission. All rights reserved.

Linda Baie (blogging at Teacher Dance), thinks I  might relate to her teenager with purple hair in this poem. I can't imagine why. I didn't get my purple streaks until I was in my 40s.

Purple Reign
by Linda Baie


That girl,
fifteen
with purple hair-

a beauty
queen
who’s not aware

of how she’s
seen,
that others stare,

stays in her
dreams
with friends who dare.


Linda Baie © All Rights Reserved

If you're coming late to the Pantone®  party, visit my colorful 2014 Poetry Project introduction. You'll find a description of the project, some guidelines for writing with us, and a few prompts to help get you started writing.

My demitasse runneth over... some Writerly Friends have already sent in poems for tomorrow!

Your Day 4 colors are:

Demitasse
Demitasse
Pantone
® 19-0712
and Hushed Violet

Hushed Violet
Pantone
® 14-3803

That precious color! That delicate cup, with its bitter heat! I can't help but think of poor J. Alfred:

For I have known them all already, known them all; 
Have known the evenings, mornings, afternoons,
I have measured out my life with coffee spoons; 
I know the voices dying with a dying fall 
Beneath the music from a farther room. 


Let us go then, you and I. It's time to let tomorrow's colors work their magic on our Writerly brains.

8 comments:

Margaret Simon said...

Wow! I am so blown away by how a color choice can take us is so many different directions, from Diane's musings about her mistakes to your teen voice and the lime walls biting. This is so great for stretching my writing muscles.

Diane Mayr said...

Margaret and Laura--you are "Fiery Red" hot! (Pantone 18-1664 TCX)

Linda B said...

It's been a busy day, & you all are so inspiring! I hope it's not too late to add one in, & tomorrow I'll try to be earlier! Here's mine-from a memory-really! Perhaps you can relate a bit, Laura.

Purple Reign

That girl,
fifteen
with purple hair-

a beauty
queen
who’s not aware

of how she’s
seen,
that others stare,

stays in her
dreams
with friends who dare.

Linda Baie © All Rights Reserved

Diane Mayr said...

People may stare, Linda, but with a bit of envy behind it! Very nice!

Linda B said...

Thank you Diane, back this afternoon!

Patricia said...

hushed violets

alone in a cat-less room
the old lady talks to
her plants
hands vined with age
stroke minute hairs on
soft leaf underbellies
there now she soothes
don’t cry
all by herself
the plant lady
hushes her violets

KURIOUS KITTY said...

Patricia, this is beautifully sad. Especially the first line. I hope to live out my life fully outfitted with cats!

Patricia said...

Thank you for your comment KK.