The Color of Love
- Cathy Stenquist
- Feb 12
- 2 min read
Color + Love.... Hmmmm, I wonder what I can do with this?
It sure has been fun working on this series of poems inspired by COLOR. I honestly cannot wait to sit down each morning and work on them. Sometimes I wake up at 5:30 am staring at the ceiling, my mind swirling with colors and ideas.
With Valentine's Day on the calendar this week, I looked over my spreadsheet of color names and wondered which crayons would inspire me and which might go together on the theme of LOVE.
Here are the Crayola Crayon colors I chose for this week:
Carnation Pink
Sepia
Vermillion
Carnation Pink
This first poem was inspired by the time my daughter and I handed out 50 red roses to random strangers in front of Shaw's to honor my brother's 50th birthday. It is my first stab at a Pantoum. I love how the pantoum's repetition drives home the poem's emotion. For you Pantoum pros- would love your feedback so I can learn.
The pantoum is a poem of any length, composed of four-line stanzas in which the second and fourth lines of each stanza serve as the first and third lines of the next stanza. The last line of a pantoum is often the same as the first. - Poets.org
This is the format I used:
(FYI- Nǎi Nǎi means grandmother in Mandarin Chinese)
Sepia
My next poem was inspired by my Nana, Gertrude, whom I adored. She was a very talented artist in her own right (watercolor, pastels, photography), never had a wrinkle on her face, and always smelled of Sweetheart brand soap. While researching on Ancestry.com, I came across a photo of the home in Illinois where she grew up. Looking at the house, I tried to imagine her there. Her watercolor painting of yellow roses hangs in my home.
Vermillion
This final poem was inspired by an image I found on the Library of Congress—a great resource for unique photos and public-domain art. Look at that hair up in a French twist... You can almost feel how soft it is. Lovely!
I started off loving the sound of "million vermilion" and decided to give myself the challenge of using words that rhymed with "million" as internal rhyme, and then ending the lines with words that sounded like "roses." Quite a puzzle! It's not perfect, but still fun to read.
Finally,
Wishing my husband of 45 years a very Happy Valentine's Day. I am so blessed to be his wife. xo
One of my favorite pics of us.
Thank you to Robyn Black at her blog "Life on the Deckle Edge" for hosting Poetry Friday this week. Be sure to stop by and see the other great poems linked on her blog. If you'd like to know more about Poetry Friday, this is a great resource from Renee LaTulippe.
Cathy, these poems sing with color and imagery. I love Carnation and Sepia, especially the phrase “sepia house” and how it feels in my mouth and ears. These all have emotion, reflection, and lyricism. Amazing craft!
Cathy, your poems are a tribute to color. Vermillion is a tough one to maneuver but you did. By the way, I spotted the portrait of the lady as a Harrison Fisher piece. I have several of the original art work and even a book on the artist. I was an advocate of the turn of the century art and antiques.Happy Loveuary!
LOVE this post, Cathy, and the whole idea for your series. Thank you for these lovely images, thoughtful poems, and peeks into family history. Happy Valentine's Day weekend! :0)
This color project is going to give you a pile of poems. I can see it already! So awesome (and inspiring). I love it when I can't wait to get started each day. That's the sign of a great project. I love pantoums too. Marcie Flinchum Atkins
Love all three, but I was most struck by the musing in the second about your Nana's life as a child. I often try to see the adult a child might become, or the child an adult once was. Just this morning I caught a glimpse in a FB picture of a former student who is now probably in his 30s and it was such a jolt to see both the child I taught and the man I wouldn't recognize on the street all in the same instant!