Tag Archives: Color

Dreaming in Color: NPM25 Day 15

Last night I woke up in a dream reaching for color. I could see it, just beyond my fingertips. Words pushed and pulled in my brain, like poetry chewing gum, stretching to capture the colors in that narrow slice of sky sandwiched between the black of night and the shadows of the ocean. Vermillion chased crimson and burgundy, playing tag with golden amber, marigold, and coral until the purples came out to close out the night. Violet swallowed lavender, fading into magenta before allowing indigo to close the colorful show. I tossed in the colors of the dreamy sunset, reveling in their taste and smell. I wrapped myself in the warmth dripping from my dreams, painting images visible only to my mind’s eye. Colors lullabied me back into slumber, settling me, soothing me, refreshing me. I slept. The morning dawned gray, color drained. But my brain danced with the colors lingering, tucked safely away to carry me into the day.

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Imagine my surprise when my alarm went off this morning, with just a wisp of this dream still lingering and found today’s Verselove prompt. Brittany suggested writing a poem about color in nature. Did I manifest this prompt–or did she manifest my dream?

A prose poem seemed like the best vehicle to try to capture my dream search for color. And of course, I can’t resist including a sunset photo–one of my favorite things to photograph!

After the Rain: NPM #27

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We continued our work with color and poetry today using Marilyn Singer’s poem Watercolors as our mentor text. Students loved the way she described black in such detail. I offered paint chips again today–some kids used them, some went in other directions.

My paint chips were the yellow tones of chamomile tea and the green of cabbage patch. Students had just been out in the garden when they came in to write. You can see that influence in my poem for today.

After the Rain

When the gray clears and the sun peeks out

soothing and warm like chamomile tea,

children cheer!

The outdoors beckons, green and lush

cabbage patch

and pea soup

snails slide along the gravelly path

unaware of the

stomp and squish

of colorful sneakers.

She spies the slow slider,

plucks it by the

spiral curl

and gently moves it to the safety

of ice plant.

Rescued!

After the rain.

®Douillard

Paint Chip Poetry: NPM #26

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Today I pulled out the paint chips poetry box and spread paint chips all over the counter (face down). Students picked out 3, wrote the descriptive color words at the top of their notebooks and got ready to write! There were a few challenging words (thistle, cumulonimbus, potpourri) and when one third grader pulled pinot noir I suggested he go ahead and trade that word in. The words push students in interesting directions, although most end up not really featuring color.

Today’s rain kept us indoors–and listening seemed to be locked outside the classroom. Maybe that was another reason for the direction my own poem wanted to go. I pulled the colors/words: smoke signal, graphite, and potpourri And here is where my brain took me:

Learning to Listen

Somedays communicating

feels like sending

graphite-colored

smoke signals

that disperse in the breeze

of talk

Listening is under-evolved

ears hearing only the echo

of self-talk,

lost in the potpourri

of loud, colorful words

Today I’m building a fire

that we must tend together

you read my smoke signals,

I read yours

as we strengthen our listening ears

tuning in

to the subtle graphite sounds

listening like owls

like wolves

like we care what is said.

®Douillard

Thesaurus of Color: NPM20 Day 27

Purple: NPM19 Day 21

Super Bloom: SOLC 2019 Day 9

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The desert is usually subtle. Many shades of brown often characterize the plants and animals that live there. Blending in is necessary for survival and adaptations for preserving water often mean staying small and skinny to prevent evaporation. But when there is abundant rain in the winter, the desert can be a bit showy. Super Bloom 2019 is underway!

We planned a desert hike for today, knowing that hiking would give us glimpses of the blooming desert while taking us away from more of the bloom tourists. We got up and left the house early…appreciating the beauty of the sunrise as we drove toward the east.

One of the perks of living in San Diego is that you can get to the ocean, mountains, and deserts in about two hours or less (if traffic cooperates). We arrived in Borrego Springs before 8am and easily found parking near the Hellhole Canyon trailhead.

Many of the flowers were still asleep, tightly closed against the cool of the night. As we walked, the desert slowly woke, stretching and unfolding in the gentle light of morning. Starting early meant having the desert mostly to ourselves, allowing the desert soundscape to fill our ears. The caw of a bird called my attention to the hillside where I spotted a mama big horned sheep and her baby. We watched and listened as they click clacked their way down the hillside. I definitely envy their surefootedness! A buzzing nearby had me turn my head where I spotted a beautiful tiny hummingbird sitting in a leafless tree. Painted lady butterflies played tag as they flitted from flower to flower to flower to flower. The trickle of water tinkled in the distance, growing to a burbling stream as we got closer to the oasis framed in native fan palms. The outcome of abundant winter rain was in full view as we finally got to the maidenhead falls where water poured from over our heads into the running streams below.

The desert is carpeted in wildflowers right now. Yellows and whites stand near purples and pinks. Splashes of red and brilliant white blossoms punctuate the view. Ocotillos are just started to bloom, along with the barrel cactus. The prickly pears will be ready in a couple of week, judging from the emerging buds.

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The super bloom is just beginning and there is nothing like seeing the desert in its full color glory! As the temperatures gently rise, the blossoms will continue to emerge. If it doesn’t get too hot, the bloom may last through mid-April! Today’s hike was perfect: a just-right physical challenge as we gradually climbed, scrambling up rocks as we approached the falls, like the sheep we saw earlier. The weather was sunny, with coolish temperatures in the 60’s, and everywhere we looked, it was simply gorgeous! It was a perfect Saturday adventure.

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Bubbles

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There’s a bubble man that regularly shows up at the beach where I walk. He concocts a bubble mixture, pours it into a bowl that is fitted onto a one-legged stand that he plunges into the sand, and then starts working his magic.

bigger bubble

Two bamboo poles are his wands, and they are attached by long stretches of rope that serve as the point of bubble creation. He dips, lifts, opens and swirls using the natural sea breezes to create enormous bubbles that drift along the shore.

Tiny bubbles

Like the Pied Piper, the bubble man attracts children. They flock to him, chasing the bubbles, hands reaching, eager to pop these ephemeral jewels. He teases them with a cluster of low, small bubbles, sending them out in a flurry, then lifts his wand high above their heads, coaxing another bubble to grow. A snake evolves into a dragon, expanding and twisting as it nuzzles the sunset. The kids look up, arms stretched, running beneath the giant as it floats out of reach.

color unfurls

When the conditions are right, bubbles become corridors to another world. Immersed in briny ocean water, the brave enter the bubble, seeing the world from inside its colorful coating. For those who are patient and move with elegance and ease, the bubble stays, moving with them in a watery dance of soap and salt and air.

There’s something freeing about the temporary nature of bubbles. You can almost catch them, but never quite possess them. In some ways it’s like learning. For a moment, you can stop time and hold it in your hand and then, pop! It has become part of the air again, you breathe it in and it is a part of you.

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Don’t stop, blow a new bubble today. Try some small ones to get started, share them with others. Now reach. Higher. Open your arms wide, catch the breeze. Pop! It’s gone before the bubble formed. Try again and again until the light catches and the colors unfold into a rainbow of possibility.

Full color bubble

Garden Poetry

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My students are lucky. They spend a half an hour in our school garden every week, growing vegetables, learning about bugs, noticing what grows well and what struggles, and tasting! I often don’t get to go out with them, but today because of a shift in my schedule due to conferences, I joined them…and turned it into an opportunity for poetry writing!

I was drawn to the artichokes, purple and green knots growing strong and tall. When my students sat down to write, so did I.

artichoke

Artichokes

Globes

like dinosaur paws

clenched

holding a tender heart inside

tiny swords

protect that meaty center

purplish green

beckons…attracting me

and spotted ladybugs

When will they be ripe?

Douillard 2018

I know that photographs and visual images inspire my writing. It’s true for many of my students as well. During yesterday’s search for the ordinary, I noticed one of my students arranging jumpropes on the ground and photographing them. And then this sometimes reluctant writer sat down to write.

Color Brain

Color strings sewing

my brain into thoughts,

ones about madness,

ones about fear,

ones about happiness,

ones about sickness,

ones about coldness,

and ones about love.

On the string of fear

the purple hides

with red,

next to blue and turquoise.

Leah