I ... entered the poem of life, whose purpose is ... simply to witness the beauties of the world,
to discover the many forms that love can take. (Barabara Blackman in 'Glass After Glass')

This blog is not, 'Here are my very best poems'. It's for work in progress, subject to revision.
Posts may be updated without notice at any time. Completed work appears in my books.

Announcement (19 May 2013)

I won’t be writing so many new poems for a while — though there will be some. I want to spend more time on revision, and more time working on memoir (in prose!). I'll continue to participate in my online poetic communities, sharing poems already written.

17 April 2009

Green / Purple (April Challenge 16)

Prompt: Choose a colour; make it the title of your poem.
(Two for the price of one, today!)


Green

Why did I dislike you
so long?
Was it for being
my mother’s favourite?

She liked the softness
of nature –
grass, leaves –
at once cool and nurturing.

Preferring blues and reds,
above all purple,
yet as I age
I too enter your shelter:

apple green, jade green,
tender green of growing things.
Healing colour, heart colour,
colour of life.


Purple

I didn’t wait to get old
to wear purple.

Always outrageous at heart,
that wasn’t why.

Purple is mystery,
the light just after twilight,

grottoes of amethyst,
a velvet cloak,

Elizabeth Taylor’s
fabled eyes,

the stain
of loganberry juice,

the tips
of some feathers.…

Beauty
is always my reason.


Submitted Nov. 6 2011 for the dVerse 'Play with Color' prompt.
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16 comments:

  1. Lovely. Especially Purple. Funny how some phrases strike you inexplicably - the tips
    of some feathers.…     for example!

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  2. Hmmm, that was the most immediately present of those images - they were all a bit fantasied, even though I've seen them all, but I was looking at a purple-tipped feather in the moment. I wonder if that came through some way.

    Thanks for commenting!

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  3. like the first but reallly like the 2nd.

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  4. Yes, several others have had that reaction too. Actually I agree. :)

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  5. nice...my wifes fav is purple as well. but my eyes are green so hopefully she has grown on it as well...smiles...there is much to like of great, health and life...but purple is so royal...

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  6. I love purple... I got in trouble for painting a kitchen wall purple...I thought it looked great,it stayed. Great poems!

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  7. i love purple too. i am attracted to purple.

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  8. to enter the shelter of nature...i love this..so comforting...and purple is a majestic color..

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  9. Green is good, but your second poem really resonates with me, especially the last couplet.

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  10. Two compelling poems, of which the first spoke more strongly to me.

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  11. This is very lovely, tales of two colors! I enjoyed it.

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  12. Thank you, people. Actually all colours are good, aren't they? I'm glad you enjoyed these. :)

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  13. Lovely!!
    "Beauty
    is always my reason." wowwwwwwwww!!!

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  15. Whenever someone asks me my favorite color, I can never choose. I just love color. These are replete with what I see as intense colors. All the better.

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  16. Dear insanebloom, Gooseberry Garden and Victoria, I'm so glad that you appreciated those particular aspects!

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