Peachy Keen: 2014 Poetry Project

Writerly Friends, today we are writing in response to two peach tones, Dubarry and Papaya Punch.

Day 17 Dubarry
Pantone ®  17-1647

Day 18 Papaya Punch
Pantone ®  15-1433

If you've been following the Pantone® Poetry Project (read about it here), you know that some colors inspire a wonderful congruity of responses. Remember Oxblood Red, which inspired three poems that looked to the past?

On other days, the responses people share are so different, I could swear we are looking at totally different colors. Today was one of those days.

I was so excited when Diane Mayr emailed me that she'd done some research on Dubarry. She says, "I read a little bit about du Barry on Wikipedia, and found the painting that must correspond to the color."

Du Barry
by Diane Mayr

The young women's pregnancy had ended badly.
Her child was still-born, dead upon arrival.

Undoubtedly grieving, the woman had failed 
to report the child's demise to those in power.

"Guilty of infanticide!" They declared and
demanded she swing from the gallows.

Sometimes men feel the need to play god,
but without a divinity's love and compassion.

"Have mercy on this young woman,"
Madame du Barry wrote to the Chancellor.

And, as it turned out, du Barry's powers
far outweighed those of France's false gods.

Real gods are asexual and du Barry 
knew that these men of power were not.

It's fascinating that a color led Diane to write such a fine historical sketch. Was du Barry and early feminist?

But here is another Dubarry Wiki entry -- one I am guessing poet Linda Baie found. Here, Dubarry is not "Madame" but instead, an Irish clothier specializing in shoes.

I'm loving these Dubarry boots,
but the price tag is not so appealing.

Dubarry

Imagine the Pantone color name decider

discovering the lone hot pink

in Dubarry’s footwear catalog.

Meant for the deck shoe fashionista,

the christener of colors

rejects his ‘hot pink’ as so yesterday,

and creates new visual pathways

of color from faraway places.

I’ll never look at a pink rose again

without thinking “Dubarry”.

Linda Baie © All Rights Reserved

Buy it here.

I admit, it took a lot of brainstorming for me to get a poem today. There is a page in my Pantone ® notebook with ten variations of Dubarry in a visual gradient. It goes from lightest at the top of the page to darkest (the "paint chip" color above) at the bottom. In the middle of the page is a mid-tone Dubarry, medium pink, sort of the color of bologna.

Just yuck. I am not a fan.

I wrote on that color: "Pink Sludge Meat." After a little research, here is the resulting (revolting?) poem.

To Pink Slime

By Laura Shovan

After “The Sliming: How processed beef trimmings got rebranded, again and again and again” by Daniel Engber, Slate.com, October 25, 2012

Mash of beef trimmings chopped fine,

you are centrifuge-spun until

your fatty bits and gristle fall away.

You call yourself lean

finely textured beef, protein-rich.

But falling from an extruder,

you could be fruity frozen yogurt—

maybe papaya flavored—pink slime.

You caused a burger panic, your slimy

terror spread to supermarket chains,

which pulled their ground beef packs

from shelves if the list of ingredients

included you, Dubarry-colored paste.

Well? What’s wrong with salvaging

every part of a cow, using what’s

left over when the carcass has been

parceled into steaks? Defat the lot,

clean off the growing microbes

with ammonia gas and we have you,

an oozy Plah-Doh, safe to eat but

not what I’d call meat.

Read more at Organic Consumers.org

It turns out, the response pieces were not so different after all. Each poet did some amount of research to find a "way in" to her writing today.

And what about innocuous and tasty Papaya Punch? Diane Mayr wrote a haiku that teachers will appreciate.

winter break...
she sips papaya punch
in New Hampshire 

Still thirsty for some liquid sunshine? Here another haiku from Michelle Heidenrich Barnes at Today's Little Ditty.

Sunset over Kauai

Polynesian sun
ripened and bloated
explodes into papaya punch

Did anyone add a little papaya sunshine to their time off during our recent snow days?

Ditch the bologna and pink slimeburgers.
This Papaya Punch is my kind of food.
Find the recipe at Muy Bueno Cookbook. Yum!

Tomorrow, we'll write in response to the Day 19 colors. Will you be hot, hot, hot Orange Pepper or tension-taming Soothing Sea?

Day 19 Orange Pepper
Pantone ®  16-1164

Day 19 Soothing Sea
Pantone ®  12-5209

All you colorful poets -- look for a big giveaway announcement this week on Poetry Friday. Soothing Sea you later.