Happy Anniversary, Happy Birthday, Happy Happy to my debut poetry book, Colors Collected, Poetry Inspired by the Hues of Life!
One year ago, today, my chapbook of color poems released into the world. It was exciting to create a culminating take-away from the award-winning poetry series, Colors, where the book idea originally began. Colors was born after the amazing Channillo.com invited me to join their online series publication and within six months, I released sixty-two poems to their world of subscribers.
After a humbling nomination and winning of three awards in December 2018—Best New Series, Best Poetry Series, and Best Continuing Series—readers were asking where they could buy the book. That’s when Colors Collected became more than an online series, it became a chapbook. I selected thirty-one of my favorite color poems, wrote a few new ones to make the book special, and voila! Colors Collected came to be!
Truly my parents deserve a big THANK YOU! They were the traveling souls who trekked my sister and I through practically every state park in the United States. We haven’t seen them all, but pretty darn close! Although we didn’t hike, my family drove cross-country to camp, boat, and snowmobile in every forest, lake, and mountaintop we could find. It was on every adventure, I found color. Or truly, color found me.
Here are the first two stanzas from the first poem in my book:
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… (remaining four stanzas on page 1)
My connection with color began years ago, when I was that little girl in the car. Greens and oranges and browns blurred outside my window as Dad drove along. I didn’t write my poems down back then, but it was the first time I remember colors speaking to me. Honestly, if I still listen today, I hear all kinds of conversations from the hues of flowers and trees and sky. The mix of nature and color has always since been my muse, and I hope to continue celebrating their gifts in many poems to come.
Here are another two stanzas from a poem where color and nature merged in conversation:
These Daffodils
It’s been done before,
plenty of times,
poets writing verse about daffodils.
*
But not these daffodils,
not from this place,
where they lay hidden beneath the pine…(remaining six stanzas on page 18)
My book launched last August 23rd, the very date I started back to my day job as a teacher for elementary school. I was able to schedule a couple of book-signings but missed the holiday festivals that year due to life (as per usual). Finally, I had four upcoming events to help promote and celebrate my Colors Collected chapbook in the new year, but sadly they were all cancelled due to COVID-19.
Here I am one year later…our world still Corona tainted. However, I am elated at the opportunity to share and celebrate this vibrant piece of my heart. Won’t you join me by picking up a copy for yourself? Or would you pass one on as a gift? I would be ever grateful! THANK YOU! 🙂
Happy Writing (because at least you’re writing),
Celaine Charles, August 23, 2020
Content and Image Credit:
https://channillo.com/ (Channillo.com)
https://channillo.com/series/colors/ (Colors Online Poetry Series)
https://www.canva.com/join/press-fail-lamps
Categories: poetry
Tags: #amwritingfantasy, #amwritingpoetry, #author, #authoring, #authorlife, #authors, #blue, #bookanniversary, #bookbirthday, #bookcelebration, #bookforsale, #booklaunch, #bookmarketing, #bookpromotion, #booksigning, #celainecharlesauthor, #celainecharleswriter, #celebrate, #celebrating, #celebration, #color, #colorconversations, #colorful, #colors, #ColorsCollected, #colorsonchannillo, #colorspeaking, #encourage, #encouragement, #family, #green, #hue, #huesoflife, #inspiration, #inspire, #love, #market, #marketing, #muse, #nature, #orange, #poem, #poemaboutnature, #poems, #poemsaboutcolor, #poetry, #poetrycelebration, #poetrycollection, #poetrycommunity, #poetrycorner, #poetryforallages, #Poetryfriends, #poetrylife, #poetrymonth, #poetryofinstagram, #poetryplay, #poetryseries, #poetrywriters, #publish, #published, #publishing, #purple, #red, #shade, #steps, #stepsinbetween, #stepstowriting, #tint, #yellow
Steps In Between 
Really wonderful! Congratulations!
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Thank you!💙
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🙂🌍
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Such wonderful memories and accomplishments! Keep going, my friend.
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Thank you! 💛💛💛
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