“Long Lost”
I spent the morning writing, looking out over the steel, pavement, and concrete, remembering fondly all that's been lost to me— Morning fog rolling fast over the mountains; Fresh cabbage patches growing in my father's garden; Babbling brooks hidden deep in an Appalachian wood; New leaves squinting, branches blinking on the dogwood; Early evening pollen bits dancing round and round, sticking boldly to car windshields, leaving sickly children spell-bound in the outfields. A sprig of mint plucked just in time, something crisp and sweet-smelling to remind me that green things always return in Spring and with their bright yearning, bring the reflection time— When the schools assign five paragraph essays to write, and Persephone paints watercolors to ward off the night. While the city forever holds my green thumb hostage, the grass beckons me forward with a gnostic gospel, "You are one of the green things, my darling, And like starlings, you sing loudest in the morning. Do not be afraid of the lost things, the bee stings. Do not fall victim to the blindings of Manhattan." After all, the island was once covered in green satin. The Lenape called it "welikia," my good home. And good it was, with shores tickled pink by sea-foam, A third space as beautiful as it was powerful. Long before money ruled and towers fell, Manhatta stood intrepidly in its devotion to preserving shadbush blooms and Calliope plumes. Before people and places and streets and motion, this city of concrete was once interwoven with threads of green, yellow, purple, and blue and stretched itself wide in the mornings the way I do.
What is Paint Chip Poetry?
While browsing an art supply store recently, I came across a small game box filled with small paint chips and prompts—simple building blocks to create infinite poems and colorful sequences.
I’ve always adored poetry but never felt particularly adept at writing it. This year, I’d like to try and get better. With it being National Poetry Month, I thought it would be a fun writing challenge to use this game box as inspiration to write a brand new poem every day for the entire month of April.
The Rules
I must choose a prompt and four-to-eight paint chips at random. I get a single opportunity to re-draw a sample if I’m not feeling it, but that’s it. Just one. However, I can redraw if I get a repeat.
I must write a poem using the prompt and all of the paint chip words/phrases within the text of the poem. They must be bolded and italicized.
I must post the poem each day to Substack & include a photo of the paint chips in every post.
this is beautiful, and such a fun idea too!!