Friday, August 19, 2016

Poetry Friday: Color


I love the color poems in Hailstones and Halibut Bones: Adventures in Poetry and Color, because they talk about the smell of a color, the sound of it, the emotion of it.  I always share some of these with my seventh graders at the beginning of the year, as we talk about literal and figurative language. Here's one that I'll be sharing next week, since purple is one of our school colors.

What Is Purple?

Time is purple
Just before night
When most people
Turn on the light –
But if you don’t it’s
A beautiful sight.
Asters are purple,
There’s purple ink.
Purple’s more popular
Than you think….
It’s sort of a great
Grandmother to pink.
There are purple shadows
And purple veils,
Some ladies purple
Their fingernails.
There’s purple jam
And purple jell
And a purple bruise
Next day will tell
Where you landed
When you fell.
The purple feeling
Is rather put-out
The purple look is a
Definite pout.
But the purple sound
Is the loveliest thing
It’s a violet opening
In the spring.

Mary O’Neill
(from Hailstones and Halibut Bones)


8 comments:

Brenda at FriendlyFairyTales said...

I love the color purple, ever since I read Jenny Joseph's a warning when I was in college. :-) I wrote about color today, too.

Linda B said...

I still love that book, Ruth, so clever in what it brings to us readers. Love "great
Grandmother to pink." Happy beginning of school days to you!

Ramona said...

This book is a definite keeper. It's one that I've kept, even in the midst of my massive decluttering and clearing out. Love that line: "The purple look is a Definite pout."

Matt Forrest Esenwine said...

Great book for teaching, Ruth - thanks for sharing this one! I also love her Yellow poem. Many of them tie in family connections with the colors and nature, so it's a very well-rounded, well-constructed book.

Mary Lee said...

Hooray for purple! My favorite color of all! (I need to revisit Hailstones and Halibut Bones...a classic!)

Michelle Heidenrich Barnes said...

Love this book, Ruth! My husband gave it to me as a gift when we first started dating... and, well, the rest is history.

Doraine said...

Purple is my favorite. I love being grandmother to pink. May you have a purple year!

Bridget Magee said...

Hadn't thought of purple in so many ways -
"sort of a great
Grandmother to pink" Love it! Thanks for sharing, Ruth. =)