Seven Shades To Go ~ Completing My “Colors” Poetry Series

As I come to the last month for my “Colors” poetry series (on Channillo.com), I’m tossed between gusts of melancholy (https://channillo.com/series/colors/).

Elated joy finding release for that inner light that’s filled my heart for years. Glumness for what to do with the colors that remain? Relief that in some small way my project feels complete. Yet angst about the final poem choices still needing to be made. With only seven spots left to fill, how will I choose?

I wonder if there’s a tint or shade I’ve neglected? Are there feelings or concepts not yet expressed? I know they are inside, only in need of a little coaxing. Alas, it’s time to sum up what’s come of this series so far… maybe then I’ll stumble upon the perfect ending.

Art by Karina Llergo, https://fineartamerica.com/featured/dance-through-the-color-of-life-karina-llergo-salto.html

The first poem in this series began in the backseat of my parent’s car when I was a little girl. It’s where my fascination with the color of things began. Driving across country through national park after national park, I think my eyes overfilled. As chlorophyll aids in photosynthesis, a rainbow of words absorbed beneath my skin and packed into the porous holes in my bones until later discovery.

An excerpt from the first poem in my series:

Green

Colors come alive as my father drives

along curves and bends on old

forgotten roads.

Trees push past with urgency,

stitch their hues together,

almost one,

almost emerald, almost fern,

hunter, olive, sage…

chroma blurs,

though swells as one flame,

alive and pulsing,

like fire

crackles behind wooded pyres…

The rest of this poem can be found on Channillo. I am unable to post the poem’s entirety (due to my contract) as it’s a paid site (although one worth purchasing as it’s inexpensive and gives you access to many authors of various genres). If you do decide to join, please know I donate 100% of my author kickback to Mary’s Place, an organization helping families and children facing homelessness (https://channillo.com/, https://www.marysplaceseattle.org/).

Art by Anna Vowels, http://www.instagram.com/av.feeling

I’ve since gone on to write about the color of violet and how it always brings back memories of my grandmother in, “The Violas Give You Away.” I’ve researched the color blue for the poem, “No Blue To Drown In,” to discover it wasn’t even a named word from long ago. The ancient author Homer referred to the ocean as wine dark in his writing, as there was no word for blue. And yellow? I’ve written in every shade from pale and dandelion to amber and gold.

Art by Ann Powell, https://fineartamerica.com/featured/abstract-art-color-splash-on-square-ann-powell.html

I’ve written colorfully about personal experiences in, “A Tree Moans,” “The Edge of Aging,” and “Folded Twilight.”

I’ve sought the hues of concepts such as, “Patience,” “Surrender,” “Renewal,” “Regret,” and “Change.” I wonder if you knew such things not only emitted color, but that each chroma fills the world in unique and emotional designs. And you don’t have to be diagnosed with Synesthesia to taste or enjoy.

It’s always interesting to share my opinionated perspectives as I have in, “The Death Of Me,” “Native Time Travel,” and “The Color of a Storm.”

Sometimes imaginative poems are inspired by photos, such as “Black Raven Eats The Sun,” or “Quiet Escape to Canvas.” Even a Haiku, “Sunset Dessert,” where night devours the last caramel bite of day, practically wrote itself when I looked upon a friend’s photo of a golden sunset.

Art by Anna Vowels, http://www.instagram.com/av.feeling

Finally, I’ve soul-searched about the sadness of things…

An excerpt from my poem about homelessness:

Fire and Chocolate

The fire blazes behind black iron bars,

crackling a song from my youth,

one where warmth coated every inch of my flesh

with marshmallows and chocolate…

chocolate.

Sometimes they give chocolate out at the shelter,

on special occasions,

certainly not on the corner.

Chocolate’s a childhood for adults who make their way…

away from this place.

The rest of this poem continues on Channillo and ends with the warmth from Grandmother’s silver spoons (never to be traded). It was inspired by stories told from homeless survivors, mixed with a book I read about a homeless young girl, seasoned with a news article of an elderly lady who lived on the streets for over two years (due to a Social Security Office mistake), and although lost almost everything, held onto her family’s silverware. When I thought about the color of homelessness, this one shined (as well as others, although I only posted the one).

Art by Anna Vowels, http://www.instagram.com/av.feeling

I have poems in black, brown, gray, purple, red, orange, yellow, green, blue, white, pink, peach and coral, silver and gold, light and dark, literal and figurative, emotional and silly, and all very much me.

This series has allowed me to explore the hues of experiences I’ve had in new and innovative ways. In shining color, that for me, always flame in shades of green. But of course, if you’ve figured me out yet, there is no other color.

In my mind green is every color, and as my series began, so I suppose it will have to end that way. Like a crystal prism holds every color, the flashes of green foliage passing by my car window from all those years ago, are like one. That blur I’ve never been able to name. The one I saw traveling through national parks as a young girl. The one I continue to see traveling through Washington’s Snoqualmie pass or along the winding roads of North Idaho today. That’s my poetry for, “Colors.”

And now, I am off to make those difficult decisions about my final seven poems. Gratitude pours from this overflowing body. I am so happy to have been able to share this series with you. Thank you, readers!

My series will be completed on December 31^st, 2018. Although, it will still be up and available to any reader or supporter on Channillo (and new patrons to join). I am delighted and honored to share my work with you. I hope you find your colors along the way and share your inspired gleam with other. As light bounces along in the universe, I hope my words provide at least some… lasting comfort.

Writing Advice: Color Emotions

Write about your favorite color as a warm up to whatever regular writing you engage in. But don’t limit yourself. Think of your color in more than a sense of rainbow.

What emotions does your color evoke?

Where does your mind travel when you think on those emotions stirred by hue?

Now, zoom in on one experience where you felt that emotion.

Can you describe it from this new colorful perspective? Are there tints and shades you may have missed before? Write them down. Sketch a picture, if you’re artistic (or not). My wish is for you to use the power of color to reinvent your feelings and experiences, and to hopefully appreciate or understand them in a whole new light. It may be an enlightening experience or even healing, if you let it. I believe it will at least enhance any other writing you’re working on, as it will get your emotional juices flowing.

My blessings to you as you soul-search.

By Celaine Charles, December 9, 2018