Peach Pearl Meteorite: 2014 Poetry Project

Writerly Friends, it’s Day 8 of the Pantone® Poetry Project. For me, the process of writing in response to a color every day is getting a little harder.

Pantone® colors aren't just for fashion.
We are writing in response to designer colors
every day in February.
Read more about the project here.

From Pantone's ®Fashion Color Report webpage.

I hit a similar wall last year, during the Poetry Postcard Project. That was fine. At least, I had to tell myself it was fine. Writing every day means that not every poem is going to be an inspired, amazing, lyrical wonder. Last year, I ended up writing plenty of light verse -- some fun, some just ugh -- and a handful of poems I’m very proud of.

When you’re stuck, it’s good to mix things up by trying a different form. Both Diane Mayr (Random Noodling) and I did that today.

The Day 8 colors are:

Day 8: Peach Pearl
Pantone ®  14-1419

Day 8: MeteoritePantone ®  19-4008

Diane and I both picked Meteorite to inspire our writing. Instead of writing a poem, though, Diane created a short play and I wrote a prose piece.

Meteorite (A Play in One Act)

It is just after sunset, the sky darkens. Two ants stand at the entrance to their hill gazing upward.

From nearby, a loud "Plop."

YOUNGSTER
Daddy, Daddy!
A meteorite--it
fell from above!

FATHER
Where son?

YOUNGSTER
Over there, Daddy!
See it? It's
burning hot!

FATHER
Yes, my boy.
I see it. Stand back!

YOUNGSTER
Do you think it's
from a distant star,
or a faraway planet?

FATHER
Definitely a planet.

YOUNGSTER
Really? Which one?

FATHER
The planet Cow!

Diane Mayr, all rights reserved.

Pregnant cow at University of Maryland Research Farm
by J. Shovan

Here is my YA character sketch, using "Meteorite" as a nail polish color as the jumping off point.

Meteorite
by Laura Shovan

It took me three months, but I finally got brave and painted my toenails black. The color’s called “Meteorite.” It freaks my mother out and my friend Henry said it was morbid, but he wasn’t dumped by somebody he went out with our entire sophomore year. Henry was one of the only kids who stuck by me after the break up. Maybe because we survived Hebrew School together when we were 12. Anyway, I’ve got reasons to be morbid.

Yes, I have a new boyfriend and yes he’s awesome, so I don’t totally understand why I want to wear black all the time. I just know that I do. It feels like being under. A heavy feeling. But it’s also a darkness thing, because the color, “Meteorite,” is like when the sky is dark and I know there’s a comet out there somewhere, the kind people wish on, but I can’t see it. That comet is always in the part of the sky where I’m not looking. It’s this huge metaphor for my life as a high school junior. My life is happening out of the corner of my eye. I never turn my head in time to see hope fizzing across the blackness. I just see the blackness.

All the regular old stars stand around where they always do, unchanging as every one of the 333 kids in my high school class. Unchanging as I am, even with the awesome new boyfriend. And here is me, wondering why this new guy, this nice guy, wants to be with a depressed, black-toenailed loser. Sometimes I crawl out my window and stretch out on the roof of the garage, where I can look at the sky and ask myself these questions.

Wikipedia's Nail Art page

So far, no takers for Peach Pearl, though I think it could inspire an ode to a Peach Schnapps mocktail like the Fruity Toad.

UPDATE!

Linda Baie of Teacher Dance is in with a late Peach Pearl quatrain. Thanks, Linda!

Grandama christened me her 'sweetest peach';
Grandpa called me his 'little pearl'.
I gew up know I was a favorite,
their precious "peach pearl" of a little girl!

Linda Baie ©All Rights Reserved

If you'd like more information about this month's writing project, read the introductory post. You can start at the beginning (February 1: Apricot Illusion), or jump in tomorrow with these two colors:

Day 9: Wet WeatherPantone ®  16-5101

Day 9: Aqua HazePantone ®  15-5209