Turbulent Green Whispers: 2014 Poetry Project

Writerly Friends, my son's birthday wish came true. SNOW DAY!

I have spent today elbow-deep in chocolate. Since everyone's home, I decided to bake my son's birthday cake from scratch. And my daughter is making homemade chocolate candy for her boyfriend. So, yep. Ovens, double boilers, and lots of sample tastes.

My husband actually braved the slushy roads today to pick up a bouquet of red roses for me! The florist couldn't deliver them because of the weather. He must love me a whole lot.

Are you red roses or dark chocolate for Valentine's Day? I have something that may sway your opinion... the Choctone Color Chart.

Thanks for the sweet color chart,
Creative Boys Club

If you'd like to choose a Choctone color for tomorrow's prompt instead of one of the Pantone® colors, go for it. Just save me a piece.

All this month, we are writing in response to Pantone® paint colors. Whether your response is based on the color's hue, or there's something about the color's name that gets your creative juices flowing, you are invited to join the project. Leave your response in the comments. You'll find full instructions at this post.

Today's colors (Day 12) remind me of a walk in the winter woods. Put their names together and you get a hint of the spring that's hidden deep inside branches and beneath layers of snow and earth: Turbulent Green Whispers.

Day 12 Turbulence
Pantone ®  19-4215

Day 12 Green Milieu
Pantone ®  16-5806

Day 12 Whisper Pink
Pantone ®  13-1107

Today's trio makes me think of walks in the woods. Since I was fourteen, my family has owned a home in the Catskill mountains. The property includes several wooded acres. I love to walk there with my daughter, who is a budding photographer. We have such different ways of noticing: I use words to point out the things that catch my eye; she uses her camera.

Photo: J. Shovan

Shelf Fungus

by Laura Shovan

They rise like stairs,

an invitation to climb

the deep-notched bark

of this old trunk.

Part of the green milieu—

of grass, and trees,

and dusty lichen—

but separate, fungal.

My mother taught us

a circle of toadstools

was where the fairies

danced while we  slept.

My grandmother knew

which mushrooms were safe

to pick for soup.

Beneath the tree,

my daughter stands,

points her camera up.

These fungi's undersides

are whisper pink

and nougaty, the tops

a turbulent, sun burnt black.

I notice they are shaped

like giant’s ears,

and wonder if something

larger than us

stopped in this woods

to listen.

Geographer and poet Michael Ratcliffe joins us today with some green imagining. (No surprise, we are all ready for spring to burst forth with some fresh green.)

GREEN MILIEU

by Michael Ratcliffe

Milieu, milieu, milieu.
For geographers, like writers,
it's all about milieu.
Paul Vidal de la Blache was right,
landscape holds possibilities,
environment does not determine.
It is for each of us to decide
what to do with, and within,
the milieu in which we find ourselves,
how to paint our lives
onto the canvas of the earth.
Milieu, green with possibilities,
drawn from within,
taken where we will,
colored as the mind imagines.

We definitely have a nature theme happening today. Here is Linda Baie's haiku.

dawn peeks in

the east window

whispering pink

Linda Baie blogs at Teacher Dance

And a Whisper Pink senryu from Diane Mayr (Random Noodling):

whispers 
from under the table 
...all in pink

by Diane Mayr

I can picture all of the girl cousins giggling under that big table.

Patricia VanAmburg writes: "It is so nice this morning to find exposed pavement and some green milieu in this nice warm spot!" Patricia, have you been out shoveling? My guess is, this poem was written BEFORE the latest snow.

Shock Wave

by Patricia VanAmburg

Unexpected turbulence
from a five-year-old
sent the screen door
off its hinges
sent the child
into hysterics
sent her grandparents
into the void. 

I think Patricia's granddaughter has been hanging out with Diane's Pink Ladies.

It *is* Valentine's Day tomorrow, and Poetry Friday. Fittingly, our Day 13 colors are two red tones to get your heart pumping.

Day 13 Burnt Russet
Pantone ®  19-1530

Day 13 Paprika
Pantone ®  17-1553

Remember, you can skip the reds and go for a sweet brown Choctone poem instead. I'm off to enjoy some birthday cake (Choctone 476 C).