When Summer Becomes Autumn

I had forgotten how inspiring I found the Crayola Crayon color names I have been working with this year, and how poems seem to flow more easily at times from colors than from other words. It felt good to sit down this week and choose three new colors.

Snapped this week in Massachusetts.

This week's colors were inspired by the change in seasons from swimsuits and to comfy sweatshirts.

• Tan

• Bittersweet Shimmer

• Goldenrod

Let's start with the color:

Tan

Do you remember these ads? Check out the copy....

Turn on a tan with Johnsons. Right, Baby? Johnson's Baby Oil is the same great, pure oil your Mom probably used on your skin when you were just a mini-kid. It has no sunscreen like tanning lotions and creams. So there is nothing to block out the golden sun. You tan faster and deeper than ever before. And you stay tan longer, too. Come on. Turn on, your great big beautiful baby you.

YIKES!!!!! My dermatologist is shaking in her boots right now.

The color tan reminded me of my mother years ago, who fell for the ads like this one for Johnson's Baby Oil and never went outside or to a lakeside beach without slathering it on, not fully understanding the damage she was doing to her skin. I had fun leaving a little message along the left side of this poem.

Next is:

Bittersweet Shimmer

The name of this color reminded me of the last days of vacation and the bittersweet feeling of knowing summer is ending. We find ourselves in this "summertime limbo," not wanting to let go of the sun, fun and slower pace. Even the colors of the sky are speaking to us.;)

And finally...

Goldenrod

While looking for images, I came across this one and wanted to learn more. I found out that the pretty yellow plant, goldenrod, is not the allergy culprit I believed it to be; rather, it is ragweed.

Goldenrod is actually a very important source of fuel and nutrition for monarch butterflies on their migration. Later in the season, its seeds feed birds and wildlife. So I imagined an ad for a Goldenrod cafe. I tried to use the Haiku Sonnet form. You more experienced "Haiku Sonnet pros" from last week will probably see some problems here, but it was fun to try.

Thank you to Patricia J. Franz for hosting Poetry Friday this week. Her poem "Summers End is a delightful read. The imagery!!! More lovely poems can be found here on her blog, REVERIE.