8: 45 a.m. — Atlanta
not listening to anything because my main computer is misbehaving and my laptop sounds tinny
snarf… bargle… urk… mmf… hello. I’m back home in Atlanta and trying to jump-start my brain. It seems it objects to being hauled back and forth through four time zones. Should today’s exercise lack lucidity, for heaven’s sake, tell me.
For most of us, colours are the strongest of all imagery. Think about it. Green. Right? You either saw a shade of green, saw something green, like grass, or started to list the greens you remember from your Crayola Crayons (remember sea green?). While other imagery might give you a clear picture, it won’t be as vivid, or as immediate as red.
You can introduce colours in a couple of ways. You might choose objects that are inseparable from their colour, such as lemons. You might keep you poem neutral as far as colour and then deliberately and precisely place pink. Or, you might make colour the focus. The trick is to not overdo colours as imagery in a poem, even when they are the focus.
Make two lists: one of colours that attract you, and one of colours that repel you. For each colour, write what you associate with that colour.
Approach each colour from your other senses; how do these colours sound, smell, taste, and what is their texture? Jot notes for a few minutes.
Which images that emerge from your jottings give you an idea for a poem? Go!
or,
Begin with the word colour and freewrite on it for several minutes; pull a poem from your notes;
or,
Write a poem or short piece in which every line or sentence mentions the same or a different colour;
or,
Take off in your own direction, but colour must be involved somehow.
or,
list everything you associate with one colour, say red.
crimson – blood metallic tide blush
vermilion – fire heat paint thick smooth
scarlet – chilis, lining of a cape, blaze
brick – rough, earthy cool hard
red – crayon lipstick cherry cinnamon
burgundy – wine full rich
Write a poem that focuses on the colour you picked.
Point of interest: Flowers are the colours they cannot absorb, the one shade of the spectrum they reject.
No, don’t ask why part of the post is a different size. My laptop is misbehaving, too. I am contemplating the satisfying sound of a computer, or two, dropped from a seventh floor balcony.
I may, or may not be back into the routine, so you may, or may not, see me Thursday, or Friday. If so, yay. If not, I will see you next Tuesday for… what does the calendar say? Mystery. Ah, well then.
Happy writing, everyone.
julespaige
06/08/2013 at 10:43 am
http://juleslongerstrandsofgems.wordpress.com/2013/08/06/tuesday-tryouts-several-shades-of-gray-or-off-white/
I’ll let the verse speak for itself…
barbara_
06/08/2013 at 11:17 am
Goody. You’re back!
margo roby
06/08/2013 at 11:23 am
Yes, indeedy!
Hannah Gosselin
06/08/2013 at 11:55 am
Yay!! I’m so glad you’re home, Margo!!🙂
http://wordrustling.wordpress.com/2013/08/06/birth-of-fuchsia/
Debi
10/08/2013 at 9:59 am
Metaphorical fun indeed! I love your take on this prompt, Hannah. Just what I’ve come to expect from your poetic fingertips.
Hannah Gosselin
10/08/2013 at 10:02 am
Thank you, Debi!! I’m so glad you enjoyed!!🙂
jacquelinecaseypoetry
06/08/2013 at 12:24 pm
sometimes, all it takes is a color in a photograph… I’m trying, again, to learn how to post, Margo, lol
http://jacquelinecaseypoetry.com/2013/08/06/1048/
margo roby
06/08/2013 at 12:37 pm
Jackie! How lovely to see you. Your link works perfectly.
whimsygizmo
06/08/2013 at 12:49 pm
Hi, Stranger!
(snarf… bargle… urk… mmf… hello) – I thought I had patented this post-vacation pre-caffeine statement, but am happy to share it with a poetic soul such as you.
Needed a kick today. THANK YOU.
Have missed you.
de
http://whimsygizmo.wordpress.com/2013/08/06/indigo-toes/
margo roby
06/08/2013 at 1:01 pm
Well, hello you! And, thank you. If you ever need any more statements in a similar vein, just let me know. Also kicks. I am happy to kick on a moment’s notice.
I always miss you when you aren’t around, de. It’s good to see you.
m
LaTonya
06/08/2013 at 1:34 pm
Hi Margo, I recently discovered your blog but haven’t participated in any prompts. If it is okay to submit a previous work, I just wrote a piece for another color prompt. Critique and observations welcome.
Hope you get settled at home soon.
http://blackandgraylifemusings.blogspot.com/2013/07/crash-into-you-revisited.html#more
margo roby
06/08/2013 at 2:08 pm
Welcome, LaTonya. It seems a shame to not link at all if you have a piece that fits, so, sure. Glad to have your contribution. I’ll be over in a sec to read
Debi
10/08/2013 at 10:05 am
Oh, the color images- beautiful even if I am old and didn’t get the song allusion : (
markwindham
06/08/2013 at 2:17 pm
lucidity…sooo…all the other posts are supposed to be lucid…? 😉
margo roby
06/08/2013 at 2:21 pm
Cute. You get no beer.
markwindham
06/08/2013 at 2:38 pm
🙂
Here is some prompt related fun for you, put down your drink, don’t want you spewing anything on the screen. You talked about going back one year… lets look back about 28 years to one of my first explorations.
Color Confusion
The colors are strange…in a queer sort of way,
all moving…confusing.
Look, there is a blue one,
but, then again, it should not be blue,
it looks much too…well, blue.
That one, over there, looks to be red.
Yes, but why does it taste so green?
And…it is connected to the yellow one,
the one that tastes so orange,
and has a unique yellowish tint.
The colors are all here,
in the midst of a celebration,
but, there are two missing.
I can see no black or white.
Now you can be embarrassed for snorting out loud like that.🙂
Hopefully I will find time for a more serious response.
margo roby
06/08/2013 at 2:45 pm
snorkle… that’s the sound that came out… you might, if you think it would prove fun, write on this but with your now self doing the content. How would you write this as your age now and with the growth and development of your poetry? Play! It might not work, but…
markwindham
06/08/2013 at 2:50 pm
yeah, I have looked through that old stack a couple of times, wondering if there was anything there worth a go…we shall see.
BoneSpark
06/08/2013 at 2:20 pm
I did a complementary, more like supplementary, posting based on this exercise over on Bonespark. Check it out! http://bit.ly/19LnM9H
margo roby
06/08/2013 at 2:22 pm
I laughed when I got back from checking out your blog — because of the pingback — and found your comment waiting. I’ll be over again in a bit.
Iris D
06/08/2013 at 8:38 pm
Perfection in Pink
Skies at dusk explode with various pink hues
Angels wings brush the sky with mauve and cerise
Cumulus clouds emit fuschia, carmine, puce
Western horizon reveals amaranth, salmon, and rose
Canvas of color the hosts of heaven compose
margo roby
08/08/2013 at 9:07 am
Welcome, Iris. How lovely to see a contribution from someone new.
Iris D
13/08/2013 at 2:37 am
Thank you Margo. It was my first time reading your blog and I hope to be back. Great prompt.
Debi
10/08/2013 at 10:11 am
Never realized there are so many colors for pink – great job!
barbara_
06/08/2013 at 10:14 pm
Well, it’s a start
http://briarcat.wordpress.com/2013/08/06/colours/
margo roby
08/08/2013 at 10:12 am
Grin. I’m coming.
rosross
07/08/2013 at 3:13 am
http://roslynrosssmallstones.blogspot.com/2013/08/colours.html
Debi
08/08/2013 at 1:07 pm
http://georgeplace2.blogspot.com/2013/08/prompt-for-margo-roby-wordgathering.html
markwindham
09/08/2013 at 9:37 pm
so, we are still on the summer ‘post whenever you get around to it’ schedule aren’t we? Some play with an attempt at a little discipline.
http://wp.me/p1ZKiY-2TN
margo roby
10/08/2013 at 9:29 am
When you think about it, that’s always the schedule😉
cloudfactor5
12/08/2013 at 11:52 am
Hi Margo, Here you go, better late than never !! R
http://cloudfactor5.wordpress.com/2013/08/12/poem-tryouts-colouring-outside-the-lines/
margo roby
13/08/2013 at 7:20 am
Absolutely! So glad to see you, Randy.
purplepeninportland
12/08/2013 at 11:18 pm
Hi Margo! Glad you are here. I love this prompt.
http://purplepeninportland.wordpress.com/2013/08/13/courageous-colors/
margo roby
13/08/2013 at 7:23 am
Okay, now this is freaky. I woke up in the middle of the night [a common occurrence] and thought, ‘Hmm. I haven’t heard from Sara. Wouldn’t it be funny if I thought this and she appears.’ I kid you not.
purplepeninportland
15/08/2013 at 3:14 pm
OOOOOH!
Misky
15/08/2013 at 7:46 am
Colours prompt scent for me. Only scent. I’m weird. And I’m home, too.
margo roby
15/08/2013 at 8:20 am
Well, thank god for that! Your being home, not the weirdness. ‘Sides, I already know you’re weird. Welcome home. I feel like the balance is restored.
Misky
15/08/2013 at 12:47 pm
I consider weirdness a treasure. I’m well practised. Are you familiar with the chicala tree? Perhaps that obscurity was a leap too far. You’ll see tomorrow when I release what I’ve written.
Misky
16/08/2013 at 10:24 am
Here it is. http://miskmask.wordpress.com/2013/08/16/the-chicala-tree/