ALA Poetry Blast

Sylvia Vardell has a wonderful round-up of ALA's Poetry Blast, which was, as the title implies, a BLAST! And the dinner afterward got as crazy as you want a dinner to get - good conversation about life and writing and food and poetry and pets and New York City and politics. Firm opinions, fine cuisine, and lots of laughter - what more can you ask for? Here is the link to Sylvia's blog, Poetry for Children:

http://poetryforchildren.blogspot.com
[see the July 3, 2008 post for the Poetry Blast description.]

And here is my poem about paint chips, which Sylvia mentions. This poem is the result of an experiment my friends and I carried out - we drew random paint chips from a collection of over 100 of them, then had to write a poem including as many of the color names as possible. I drew 28 colors and managed to get them all into the following poem. Paint names follow the poem. Give this experiment a try!:

LOVE BY PAINT CHIP


She was a Shy Violet in a Plum Swirl.
He was a Baritone, solid as Rockwood Jade.
She was a White Egret kind of girl.
He was a Goal Post, Mainstreet U.S.A..
The first season of their Cucumber Crush
he Soft-Heathered her, called her his little Lemon Sorbet,
Sunflowered her. By summer it was all Chocolate Froth,
he overpowered her the way a Florida Mango
overpowers Fresco Cream. By autumn, her dreams
of a life of Quiet Waterfalls had fallen by the wayside.
Love was large as a Wine Barrel, it clanged like a Trolley Car,
burned the Maple Leaves right off her branches.
She turned Foxen, heated up, began to Caramelize,
began to fill with the scent of Toasted Nutmeg, he dizzied,
he fell like a downed Sequoia Grove, yes, her Sugared Peach
unmade him, she teased and Truffled him, polished him off
like a Bermuda Shell. That winter they made love over
and over again, as if a China Rain were flooding them.
They were brilliant as Beryl, oh, they Blazed.


[28 colors used: Baritone, Bermuda Shell, Beryl, Blaze, Caramel, China Rain, Chocolate Froth, Cucumber Crush, Florida Mango, Foxen, Fresco Cream, Goal Post, Lemon Sorbet, Mainstreet U.S.A, Maple Leaves, Plum Swirl, Quiet Waterfall, Rockwood Jade, Sequoia Grove, Shy Violet, Soft-Heather, Sugar Peach, Sunflower, Toasted Nutmeg, Trolley Car, Truffle, White Egret, Wine Barrel.]