Today I went into a paint store with a history similar to mine – we were both born in Newark before 1960 – Ricciardi Brothers. I was helping a friend choose paint colors for shutters and doors. I love and always gravitate to the section with rows upon rows of colored cardboard squares or rectangles that I will refer to as paint-color chips. They are there to either delight or confuse the senses. Each chip has a name chosen to label the color paint for purchase. However, the names are decidedly intended for shoppers born after the millennium and not the Crayola Crayon set like me. While the paint chip names are worthy of poetry, haiku in particular, they are wildly undescriptive of colors related to my ocular memory.
With this in mind I decided to celebrate the new age color names. I will try my hand at writing a haiku (or senryu) for each color name. I will use the name in full within the short poem and it will be italicized. I will also describe the true color as I remember it in the Crayola Crayon box of lifetimes ago.
I call these small color gems “color ku”. They will be grouped into sets of three with a similar theme. It’s all in fun and will be continued in subsequent posts as I get back out to the paint store. Thank you Ricciardi Brothers and all paint manufacturers for the inspiration.
color name: indian sky – crayon color: pale blue
indian sky
rose hips swell with
another passing
color name: mexican feather grass – crayon color: light sage
mexican feather grass
I can only guess
what lies ahead
color name: north woods – crayon color: light green
north woods
into its shadows a murder
of crows
color name: hillside view – crayon color: dark sage
hillside view
sweeping into the pond
a ruby sky
color name: forest light – crayon color: greenish white
forest light
please – not the name
of another beer
color name: goose bay – crayon color: gray green
goose bay
full moon
on the rocks
color name: river rapids – crayon color: pearl white
river rapids eddy the sound of stone
color name: sailor’s knot – crayon color: cream
freshening breeze
I cannot undo
a sailor’s knot
color name: shoreline blue – crayon color: light blue green
skimming waves two pelicans dive into shoreline blue
color name: starched apron – crayon color: pale peach
starched apron
one tray of cookies
with brown edges
color name: victorian lace – crayon color: faded white
victorian lace
oh how quickly
we button up
color name: soft fleece – crayon color: cream
soft fleece
the play of light
through a pine
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