I always knew great poems could be wriiten from colour charts! Just look at all the intriguing names given to the colours, it's inspiration-in-a-booklet!
Poem from a Colour Chart of House Paints - Wendy Cope
Limeglow of leaves -
elf, sapling
in Elysian green,
she's jitterbugging
in the forest.
She is froth, the tang
of julep, capering
among the ferns.
Passion, the firedance
of her fantasy,
fireglow of poppy
and corona, ember.
Casanova, peerless
demon, jester!
She burns, a firefly,
Apollo's geisha.
Her sandgold hair,
spun silk kimono,
melon and lemon sorbet
on the balcony,
white wine, gardenias.
That honeysuckle year -
if he could ransom
one sunlit day!
Indigo seascape -
Melissa in cool,
blue moonshade.
Harebell, naiad,
exotic ballerina,
she commands the bay,
the midnight swell,
the surf, pale gossamer.
Autumnal in brogues,
beige twinset, russet
tweeds, she takes
coffee at eleven,
sherry at noon -
dreams of Tarragona,
castanets, a man
who called her Sheba.
Her mood
is violet, nocturnal.
Aubrietia, phlox,
wisteria delight her
more than roses.
Solitude, a purple
robe, a last
long hazy evening.
elf, sapling
in Elysian green,
she's jitterbugging
in the forest.
She is froth, the tang
of julep, capering
among the ferns.
Passion, the firedance
of her fantasy,
fireglow of poppy
and corona, ember.
Casanova, peerless
demon, jester!
She burns, a firefly,
Apollo's geisha.
Her sandgold hair,
spun silk kimono,
melon and lemon sorbet
on the balcony,
white wine, gardenias.
That honeysuckle year -
if he could ransom
one sunlit day!
Indigo seascape -
Melissa in cool,
blue moonshade.
Harebell, naiad,
exotic ballerina,
she commands the bay,
the midnight swell,
the surf, pale gossamer.
Autumnal in brogues,
beige twinset, russet
tweeds, she takes
coffee at eleven,
sherry at noon -
dreams of Tarragona,
castanets, a man
who called her Sheba.
Her mood
is violet, nocturnal.
Aubrietia, phlox,
wisteria delight her
more than roses.
Solitude, a purple
robe, a last
long hazy evening.
I really love the language here - I am surprised it is Wendy Cope as I always think of her as a writer of witty poetry. I spent a long time this morning trying to name the colour of the sky through colour charts and hex colour codes - so this was an interesting discovery.
ReplyDeleteHi Shirley and welcome to my blog! Yes, my first reaction was exactly the same when I first saw this poem - it's not like her usual witty self! But she has a lot of poems that are 'serious' too, and I love the language in this and the personification, beautiful. Oh, the sky, it's always an enigma of colour! :)
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