Whenever I'm at one of the big box hardware stores, I invariably wander over to the paint ailse to peruse the paint strip selection. I love reading the color names almost as much as I used to love reading Crayola Crayon color names. (Who are these people that name colors and how do we go about applying for their jobs?)
If you are suffering from writer's block or would just like to fill an hour of the afternoon using color to send your imagination down a new path, try this exercise. I wrote Crescent Moon years ago, and I know I must have revised it at least once. I posted it below and plan to post subsequent revisions, (at least one) , just so you can get an idea of my process.
Materials needed:
paint strip assortment from Lowes or Home Depot (or just open a box of Crayola's)
Directions:
1. Choose 3-5 paint strip color names that appeal to you.
2. From your color name choices, settle on subject matter that first comes to mind.
3. Wait for the first line to form in your mind and write it down without editing.
4. Continue writing without editing until you feel you have something.
5. Set it aside for at least a week.
6. Revise. Set the poem aside. Repeat.
This is my list of paint strip color names I used for this exercise:
crescent, midnight, driftwood, beach,
Crescent Moon - Danna
The sky hangs heavy
like a cast-off winter coat,
midnight’s crushing weight suspended
from a hooked sliver of light
Below we are staring
up, ignorant,
cursing this distant parenthesis
for cheating us
because it isn’t full
We are angry there is nothing
to howl at, nothing to pull
us closer to shore
or from the beach strewn
with debris: abandoned shells, driftwood,
turgid fish carcasses with glazed
eyes staring stupidly heavenward
This pale star, which isn’t a star at
all, will continue to wax and wane,
the universe will crush down,
and our eyes will stare stupidly
at the heavens, but
we will not
curse the crescent moon
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