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

Apricot Illusion: 2014 Poetry Project

Welcome, Writerly Friends, to DAY 1 of Author Amok's 2014 Poetry Project. All this month, we are writing in response to Pantone® paint colors.

If you'd like to participate in the project, read the full the instructions at this post. Thanks to all you writerlies who have already sent a colorful piece of writing.

Flash fiction, poetry, snippets, couplets -- it's all welcome. While we're at it, let's add doodles and sketches too.

The color of the day is:

Apricot Illusion
Pantone® 14-1120

Apricot Illusion is in the dreaded beige family. Beige was my mother's preferred interior paint color throughout my childhood. As a (dramatic) teen, I thought beige was the ultimate in boring. As for my own room -- I talked my mom into letting me paint it something in the dark raspberry family.

My poem for Apricot Illusion is spoken in the voice of a teenager who is into Beige Bashing.

Apricot Illusion

by Laura Shovan

Mom can’t hide the truth

behind a pretty name.

She’s painting the walls

beige again.

Boring beige, vanilla,

the shade of my skin.

If I stood here undressed

I’d fade in--

dissolve in these walls,

a strange floating head,

an aimless ghost girl,

nearly dead.

Imagine our kitchen

in Daiquiri Green,

Beach Glass, Petal Pink,

Grenadine,

brave shades Mom can’t bear.

Paint her quiet and meek,

beige walls for the one

who won’t speak.

Apricot hint of sweet

I can almost smell

when I step out the door

and yell.

Tomorrow, you have three color choices for DAY 2 of the Pantone® Poetry Project:

Dark Earth
Pantone® 19-1020

Cosmic Sky
Pantone® 15-3909

Peyote
Pantone® 14-1106

You'll find some suggested prompts at this post. 

Here's another color-related writing prompt: use one of the above colors to write a character sketch. Why do you associate the person you're describing (living or imaginary) with this color?

I apologize for posting so late today. My Saturday morning was getting up at four a.m. for a field hockey tournament in Pennsylvania.

Speaking of sports, if you're a football fan, you'll be wearing your team's colors tomorrow, SuperBowl Sunday. They are:

DENVER BRONCOS

SEATTLE SEAHAWKS

In the spirit of the day, feel free to use one of these colors as a prompt.

What? Your team's not going to the big dance? You can find a full listing of NFL teams' official colors at this website. As for me, I bleed Ravens purple.

Poetry Friday: I Open a Box

Writerly Friends, it's cold outside.

Come in out of the cold. There's
a poetry party going on at Tara's place!
Join the Poetry Friday blog roll
at A Teaching Life.
Photo: Times Union

All this talk about the Polar Vortex makes me think of this guy:

It is six degrees in Maryland right now. Last week we actually hit ONE. Not one degree below Fahrenheit. Just ONE. 

It's been a good time for writing, baking, making soup, and cleaning. I've got boxes of papers left unopened since we moved here 14 years ago. In one of them, I found a You Will Survive High School letter from the boyfriend who, many years later, became my husband. I found a card from my grandmother, who died in 2003. All my love for her floods back when I see her handwriting. 

The process of clearing out old letters, boxes, and photos makes a powerful writing prompt. It's the surprises to be found--a picture of a childhood friend, a Mother's Day drawing made by your young son (who's about to graduate from high school)--that make strong poems. Rediscovering forgotten objects can trigger memories and family stories, as one does in today's poem.

This week, I'm sharing Maria Mazziotti Gillan's poem "I Open a Box." It was recently published by the online journal Narrative Northeast.

I Open a Box

by Maria Mazziotti Gillan

...and find inside a picture,

of myself as a child, sitting

on a small chair, wearing overalls

and shoes that must have been

hand-me-downs because they are

so worn the sole is coming loose.

I am no more than 18 months

old and cannot have been walking

all that long. I am squinting

into the sun, my nose crinkling

with effort the way it crinkles now

when I am trying to see in bright light.

Behind me, the six family tenement

where I was born on 5th Avenue

in Paterson, the rickety stairs rise up

three floors, the porches tilt a bit

as though they might fall off

if someone were to jump on them

too hard. My mother delivered

me herself in this coldwater flat.

The doctor didn't get to her in time...

Read the rest at Narrative Northeast.

Maria was my first serious poetry teacher. If you don't know her work, you are in for a journey. She is one of our country's most important writers on the immigrant experience.

Postcard of Paterson, NJ at Card Cow.
William Carlos Williams wrote about
Paterson's Great Falls in his book, Paterson.

30 Habits of Highly Effective Poets #10: Melanie Hope Greenberg on Inspiration + Drive

I met children's author and illustrator Melanie Hope Greenberg several years ago at a local writing conference. Though we have stayed in touch through Facebook, I've never told Melanie this: at that writing conference, I wrote down something she said. The quote has been posted above my desk for years.

I love the idea that reading is an escape hatch for children. It was true for me. But books can also be a ladder out of rough circumstances for some. A City Is was the first book of poetry for urban kids I'd come across.

Melanie calls her own writing habit "Inspiration Meets Drive to Manifest." With her permission, I am sharing an excerpt from Melanie's post about the long journey it took to publish A City Is.  You can find the full post on Melanie's blog.

Pablo Picasso said, "Inspiration exists, but it has to find us working." Inspiration is just an initial thought. As we saw yesterday with Lisa Vihos, it takes the drive of regular creative practice, of working, to manifest results from initial inspiration. In some ways, Melanie was in the right place at the right time to become a successful children's author/illustrator. But she was in the right place because of her drive and desire to create books for children.

Here is Melanie: I feel so fortunate to have met and worked with so many talented people along my life's path. Brooklyn Poet Laureate Norman Rosten was one of these wonderful people.

I was just breaking into children's books in 1987 and Cousin Arthur's was the local children's bookstore in Brooklyn Heights. The owners, Bob and Barbara Tramonte, were poets. In 1987, the idea for the Children's Book Illustrators Group (CBIG- New York City) was born at this bookstore. I became its first President.

Local author, playwright and poet, Norman Rosten, was a frequent visitor to Cousin Arthur's. Norman and I became friends during the time I designed a book of his poems, 'Songs for Patricia'. The Tramonte’s poetry press reissued it in 1988. When my second children’s book, MY FATHER'S LUNCHEONETTE, was released in 1991, Norman asked if I would read some of his children’s poems for possible publication. Being new in children's books that offer was incredibly generous and encouraging.

A CITY IS had many detours on its journey to publication. It was rejected a few times before Norman passed away in 1995. It finally sold to Henry Holt, one of his original publishers. His poem are simple and timeless. Memories of Norman always stay with me. 

Your Tuesday Prompt:

Melanie Hope Greenberg said, "We have a responsibility to teach children that they have an escape hatch in their minds." Your response can go in a few directions:

1. write about an early reading experience -- the moment you sensed that escape hatch opening,
2. an open meditation on the phrase "escape hatch in their minds" -- this can be realistic, surreal, whatever bubbles up for you.

Melanie Hope Greenberg has illustrated 16 trade published children’s picture books; six of them she wrote. Greenberg was recently an artist in residence for the Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art's National Endowment for the Arts grant titled "Picture This! Bridging Arts and Literacy". Her original picture book illustrations were part of the "Drawn in Brooklyn" group exhibition curated by John Bemelmans Marciano at Brooklyn Central Library-Grand Army Plaza. Greenberg was also the selected artist for the Texas Library Association conference's Disaster Relief Fund raffle.