What Is the Colour of Growth?
Green is the colour of growth:
Shoots, emerging.
No,
Brown is the colour of growth:
Promise of the earth as it’s turned.
No,
White is the colour of growth:
Pure soft hope of the month-long feast of snowdrops
No,
Cream is the colour of growth
Warm skin of the tiniest blossom
No,
Yellow is the colour of growth
Daffodil trumpet of spring
No,
Eggshell blue is the colour of growth
Life held in waiting in the nest
No.
Red is the colour of growth
Red of the robin’s breast, watching in the morning,
Arrogant, hungry,
Insistent, demanding,
And singing the most brilliant of songs.
~~~
I wrote this in response to the invitation to poetry from Christine at the Abbey of the Arts.
She asks: what is blossoming within you? with an image of a golden yellow crocus as a further prompt. (Click through to see the image, and the invitation if you’re interested in joining in the poetry party.)
The crocus picture got me wondering: what is the colour of growth?
A questioned answered in simple poem form, though the answer wasn’t quite what I expected!
What would your answer be to the question:
what is the colour of growth?
~~~
The images are mine, except for the egg, by Yersina on Flickr
this is lovely, a beautiful blend of words and photos and very spring like. Green would be my first choice as the colour of growth!
I love this….so simple but brilliant! It really stirred something up in me that made me want to reflect on this and write. I love photography but hadn’t thought of combining it with poetry. Thank you for the inspiration.
Joanna,
This is wonderful, and striking.
Thank you.
Conor
I did a radio show last week about the Colours of Love … this is just wonderful – I concluded that whatever colour you choose to give meaning to something is perfect – I love how you’re unable to choose as growth means so many different things doesn’t it
@Crafty Green Poet: I’m glad you like it! Green is a beautiful colour of growth, so deep, and rich, and gaining in colour every day
@Jacqui: have fun with it – I find that poetry and photography simply love playing along together
@Conor Ebbs: thank you Conor
@Jackie Walker: I think it’s part of spring fever Jackie… we see signs of growth, and love, everywhere, it’s impossible to select one from the feast that’s spread out in front of us!