Nuanced colors blend at the edges of life’s evanescent charms
indanthrene glazes enhance new vistas of potential
epiphanies arrive with liberty’s lustrous promises
azure tinted joy intoxicates in a rush of prismatic images
redrafting dividing lines, reigniting passion
no illusive flash, a vitreous engagement drawing near
Deep hues meld with opalescent internal reflections
creating an interplay of luminous delirium
oceanic forces arouse a state of awakening
serpentine words spoken in a moldavite tongue
smear stardust and gold on opal’s dreams of intimate nights
twinning amethysts abiding in bliss
blue aspect iolite appeals
Mysterious pendeloque cut topaz lotus
each facet refracting as divinity sparks an inner fire
labradorite depths of preternatural intensity
shatter unity, existing outside all conceptual thought
you arrive in my mind whispering supernal metaphoric symbols
mythic love piercing like acicular crystals
Pleochroic moonstone circles beneath dendritic formations
escaping censorship in a space where language fails
under the spell of a long awaited mystical merging
Notes: Topaz is derived from the Sanskrit tapas, meaning fire. ‘Heaven is always a place of gems’, Aldous Huxley. The poem owes a debt of gratitude to David Batchelor’s excellent book Chromophobia. It is linked up for Victoria’s Poetics prompt at dVerse where we’re exploring color: http://dversepoets.com/2011/11/05/dverse-poetics-play-with-color/.
Chromapoetica 
Quite a light show–gem studded and full of richer than real colors, dazzling the mind’s eye. I esp liked “Deep hues meld with opalescent internal reflections/ creating an interplay of luminous delirium..” always the best kind. The feeling of light playing over a prism is strong here, and emotions refracting back. Love the casually thrown in bursts of eloquence, surrounded by color and description–but I’m controlling myself and not quoting your whole poem back at you.
Yes, part of theoretical basis I was working with was how color in the mind speaks to that part of us beyond language and has the power to dislodge and transform us. It is both frightening and ecstatic, engaging emotion and intellect. Thank you very much for the beautiful comment.
yes
nice…lovely exposition on the colors and their dance within the prism, which then turns personal at the very end as well…and i imagine the explosion of color in love to be as spectacular as your words…
Yes, the explosion of love, in all its reflections is at the core of the poem. The lotus is symbolic of the folded bud of the heart and the soul’s potential for divinity. Thanks for the lovely feedback.
achy beautiful colour. blue is so intense, ice cold and flame hot. ocean deep and lightheaded as falling through the sky. it is a wonder that the soft browns of our earth could be wrapped in such an otherworldly atmosphere.
Great capture of the contrasts Janet! I always appreciate your comments.
some of my favorite –
a vitreous engagement drawing near
luminous delirium
gemstones and their powers – my favorite is clear crystal quartz
Ah, I’m a color fiend, I have a clear crystal that was a gift from Geology Professor that I treasure but I generally prefer more colorful rocks.
this is beautiful anna…liberty’s lustrous promises…and…divinity sparks an inner fire
labradorite depths of preternatural intensity…love the energy and unfolding here, their dance and the carrying of potential within…
Thank you Claudia, I’m so happy you engaged and enjoyed it. I love how you’ve captured its essence.
“The function of the artist is the mythologization of the environment and the world.” – Joseph Campbell
and in so doing we make our art universal
That’s a lot of eye catching colors, different shapes and light play it seems. I imagine the gems refracting the many rays, the different hues. Feels like one is turning a gem in the light, how it splits the light into different colors. If life is a gem. Or if each life is gem, that is interesting.
Interesting thoughts Ravenblack, in a way the poem could be seen as a process of reflecting upon life and others. Thanks for the read and your shocking poem.
To be honest, I felt that my comments did not do justice to your poem. I had been thinking that I need to read more about flowers, and gems and ancient mythology. It’s when I read your poems (and those of other poets) that I realize I have so much more to explore and learn to truly appreciate all the references.
Sorry about my poem, that was indeed an unpleasant tale.
I completely understood why you wrote the poem and was very moved by it. I often layer so much into pieces I feel I need to return to leaving notes for the reader. These last couple weeks I was sick and then busy catching up so I haven’t done this as I should. The process of learning from each other is one of the things I enjoy most about these poetry memes :).
Colour is an enduring stimulus Anna… I love this poem for its rich exploration of how colour works on us… I feel it a physical thing…but that soom transforms to something more emotional… so many laden lines…but this singsin its place in the whole:
blue aspect iolite appeals
making a colour into sounds… bravo! and then again bravo!!
Thank you Becky, blue aspect iolites are gorgeous and complex, what a wonderful thing to say!
“epiphanies arrive with liberty’s lustrous promises”
Beautiful!
I love the colour and light that reflect from the facets of this prismatic poem!
Thanks Suzy Q, I’m a big fan of liberty, color, and light :).
wonderful on numerous levels.
First and foremost I love the metaphor on display, and how it ties in so well to the ideas of refraction and the prism. You also are ultra consistent here, which I can’t say how much I appreciate that, even your adjectives tie back into the mineral/crystal qualities. It’s funny, I was in B & N yesterday and I had an encyclopedia of crystals in my hand, but chose The History of Madness instead. Anyhow, another of those things:) Great piece, thanks
I knew you’d see into the depths of the poem and happy to hear it appeals. I love those synchronicities, how is the history so far? As to the consistency, I thought it appropriate when dealing with the subject. I’ve been reading your back catalogue, starting in January and I’m halfway through February. Some amazing work you’ve been doing.
Oh, wow I was wondering who was checking out the archives:) Glad you like what you’ve been reading. As you can probably tell I go through cycles a lot, and it’s weird but whenever I go back to see what I was writing then, it never compares with what I’m doing now-kinda odd that way, anyhow.
Yes, the synchronicity is much more than a Police record:) I love it as well, it always amazes me.
You know what I haven’t delved into it yet. I’m a bit odd, I’ll buy books all the time, I’ve around 70 or so that I haven’t got around to reading yet. I go with what the mood is dictating- right now I’m reading The Game of Thrones- trying to finish it that is, been reading it for 8 months now on and off, but I’ve always wanted the Foucault book so with gift card in hand I got it:) I’ve read snippets over the years and it’s always interested me, so I got the full edition with all the notes and all-
I believe you thought right, while sometimes consistency can lead people- which I don’t think is always a bad thing at all by the way, I like how it ties things down better- but for this piece I think it was necessary for sure. Thanks again
Speaking of synchronicity I was just thinking of you :). I’m not making comments on your poems along the way, felt like I’d be taking up too much space or something (don’t know how to describe it). Anyway, I’ll keep reading.
I haven’t read The Game of Thrones though I heard it was good. Didn’t HBO make a series out of it? The other book sounds fascinating and I too sometimes buy books (like food for the pantry) that I don’t read for a while. For me, it’s like knowing I have something to savor later enhances the pleasure of reading the book when I can make time for it. I’ve been reading about Lakshmi this morning and found a passage in a mythology book, “When he walks, the ten quarters quake, and wherever the earth trembles there appear five hundred million jewel flowers. The palms of the hands of these Bodhisattvas are multicolored, the tips of their fingers are endowed with eighty-four thousand pictures, each picture being of eighty-four thousand colors and each color of eighty-four thousand rays. And with these jewel hands they embrace all beings.” I thought it was interesting to find this passage after writing about a gemstone lotus. Thanks for visiting!
Oh yeah, definitely neat to read that after writing your piece. Oh, that’s cool- so much symbolism in their art work, symbols are a very big deal for them. That’s neat for sure.
The Game of Thrones is pretty good, there’s a ton of information in there and it’s the type of thing that you never can pick it all up at one reading. It’s very chock full of heraldry which I like, plus I love the medieval tales, so although these books are fantasy, it’s virtually right out of that time period. It’s all about the societal structures and the innerworkings of the individual houses. Pretty interesting, but with fiction I find I take longer reading them, as I step away or read a page or two a day. Except for the Larsson books I read write through them, couldn’t put them down. Yes they did make an HBO series out of Game… I don’t have HBO though so never saw it.
Yeah the Foucault idea fascinates me as well. It takes a look at how mental illness was treated throughout the ages and where it stood at the time of the writing. I’ve read some of Foucault’s other philosophical works in the past and they’ve all had neat thoughts in them.
I like the food analogy, fits my reading style very well. Although I hop around a lot in my reading, for example I have about 15 books that have all been started- at first I was one book-next book only after finishing the first. I was always afraid I’d lose track, but I’ve found out that you don’t really. I make tons of highlights and markings as I read so it’s fairly easy to refresh the memory.
Oh, yeah I don’t blame you, I don’t really drop comments on older work I read too often either. The poetry is meant in large part to be consumed, and that’s just perfect in itself. So thanks
I’ll veer a bit here, but In reality, the entire comment structure is pretty funny. You’ll have those that are like conversations, which are the best and cherished, and those can easily be noticed, then you’ll get the odd traveller with an interesting tidbit to mention, which are cool, and often lead to the eventual conversational relationships- but I get a kick out the ones that say things like, such a beautiful sentiment and your piece happened to be about the senseless butchering of an entire village just so you can be guaranteed a reservation at the local Carabbas-lol Bit exaggerated there but you get the idea. But yeah, you get all types of comments, and half the time when you write a nice reply or something it doesn’t get read anyway. It’s really funny actually, I used to take part in all the various mr. linky type sites, but some require comments, which is pointless and to be quite honest I find It a struggle to comment on whatever number they say, that’s why I like the ones that don’t require responses, in which cases I find it easy to read and comment on virtually all of them- kinda weird but go figure.
And that’s the best kind of synchronicity:)
Yes, they’re very into symbols and numbering. I tried to read a book about the sutras, talk about mind spinning imagery. Everything is built upon something else in enormous numbers. With Lakshmi I enjoyed seeing her portrayed in her aspect/avatar with elephants.
The Game of Thrones sounds fascinating I’ll have to check it out (wonder if it’s on Kindle). Foucalt isn’t a philosopher I know well. That’s the problem with all those biology classes – they cut into my philosophy education.
I also read tons of books at once but I can’t bring myself to write on them. I may flag them but I write notes in a separate notebook. The problem with being a bibliophile I suppose. Conversational comments are the best and I’ve given up on everything but dVerse now. There was no way I could keep up with the reading.
Yep, definitely agree. Yeah, you know I got into philosophy and math, and art for that matter after graduate school. Now with two English degrees you do get some of the philosophical works to read through, but nothing like I’ve done on my own since. Especially with math and art though- I never new a world existed in math behind the formulas and numbers, what an eye opener that was and sucked me in, and there was nothing like doing my first painting, which was terrible, gave it away unfortunately and that was when I got hooked on computer art- so much easier for me, tough to stand too long for me. That all said, I never knew how to look at art either, that I taught myself, it used to be oh, a picture, wow. But once you learn how to read one picture can speak to you in a way that a 1000 page book can’t even do. Oh, and I was actually a bio major when I first started college, before psych and way before english. So I know how intensive those courses are- reason I bailed. That and fetal pigs:)
Is there a “topaz” crayola? Just askin.
I don’t think so. Maybe a pantone :).
Rich in words and color!
Thanks Laurie!
This is almost sensual, as if you are making love to the words themselves. “Pleochroic” never sounded so sexy!
Well, you know sex appeal is relative, some people like baggy jeans and some people like pleochroic 😉 (seriously though, I’m blushing). As ever, I appreciate your feedback MZ!
A true kaleidoscope of colour here in a twirl of words that danced line by line into another something splendid from you.
Thanks daydreamertoo, glad you enjoyed the kaleidoscope.
Anna, you have such an extraordinary repository of language; your work is incantatory and beautiful, and this poem exceeds the occasion, certainly. xxxxj
Thanks Jenne’, what a fabulous compliment. I love learning new words and building worlds within poems.
Amazing sparkling colors! Intimate heaven — in living color!
Thank you, Zumpoems, I am remiss in returning reading visits lately but I’ll be by soon.
Wonderful, brilliant colors on your palette, Anna. I have to confess, I thought about you when I was developing this prompt. I kinda thought it might be one that would tickle your creative muse…wonder what gave me that idea. I like that you included crystals/gemstones to define colors, too.
Oh Victoria, I so appreciate you giving me the opportunity to write on color. I had enough notes for five poems which I should work on soon. Thank you for the excellent prompt, it certainly engaged my imagination.
love the color of blue, your take is deep and cool.
🙂
Thanks!
wow, another coincidence, my poem I posted on Thursday not only had ‘acicular’ but also i wrote in my poem ‘at the edges’ – that is so amazing…i can’t believe it, because as you told me, you hadn’t even read my poem you received by email on Thursday, before you posted this poem on Saturday afterwards..wow, great minds think a like as they say…
Ah, I was thinking about my obsession in painting with putting tons of colors at the edges (where lines form or forms meet) in that first line (initially I was going to put a detail of my painting at the top but then thought people would interpret the poem as an ekphrasis one of the responses Victoria indicated as acceptable, which it is not). Thanks so much for coming by to read and comment :).
colour in paint can express conflict or dissonance which might be harder to express in words. your poem uses colour in a more unified way. the reflecting blues reinforce each other. i can see them without ekphrasis.
I really love the way you put this poem together. The imagery
just jumped at me!
Thank you for the feedback Quaz, it’s nice to see you here again.