This year I was especially struck by how drastically the palette has changed from winter’s whites, greys and blues to spring’s jewel tones. It seems almost surreal. Sitting in my many-windowed family room these days, I feel saturated in green. Outside, the intensity of green feels fluid, as if the air is filled with chlorophyll. And then there are the flowers, bursting forth hither and yon in bold and breathtaking hues. It amazes me how the same views can change so dramatically from one season to the next. So, when my turn to choose the challenge for the Inklings came around, naturally I suggested a color poem.

After many, many, many false starts, I opted to use Eleen Spinelli’s “If You Want to Find Golden” as a mentor.

If you want to find purple,
step outside and close your eyes.
Feel the breath of blooming lilacs
pulse against your skin.
Listen for the cauldron simmering
at the heart of iris,
where satiny petals amass,
eager to fly amethyst flags.

Open your eyes
to step into spring meadows 
where rising stalks of lupine,
undulate in a riot of purple
across verdant green.
Peer into the heart of shadows
beneath leaf-laden trees
where violet secrets gather.
Linger as day cedes to night,
watercoloring sky and clouds,
if you want to find purple.

©Molly Hogan, draft

If you’d like to see what the other Inklings did with this challenge, click on their names to check out their poems:

Linda Mitchell
Margaret Simon
Heidi Mordhorst
MaryLee Hahn
Catherine Flynn

Tricia is hosting this week’s Poetry Friday Roundup at The Miss Rumphius Effect.