Join the Writing Pad community!

Wednesday, November 10, 2010

Writing Prompt 11/10/10: Favorite Color

By Marilyn Friedman

Delicious classes are in abundance at Writing Pad right now! Get your fill before they are full by calling 323-333-2954.

Writing Prompt: Make a list of your three favorite colors. Pick one of the colors and make a second list of five items that are that color (ex. for brown, Alice Persons would have listed brownies, molasses cookies, pumpernickel, cabins, brown dogs, etc.).

Write about the color and the five items for 10 minutes. Then post the results in the comments of this blog! Below is a wonderful poem to help inspire you.

Why I Have A Crush On You, UPS Man
by Alice N. Persons

you bring me all the things I order
are never in a bad mood
always have a jaunty wave as you drive away
look good in your brown shorts
we have an ideal uncomplicated relationship
you're like a cute boyfriend with great legs
who always brings the perfect present
(why, it's just what I've always wanted!)
and then is considerate enough to go away
oh, UPS Man, let's hop in your clean brown truck and elope!
ditch your job, I'll ditch mine
let's hit the road for Brownsville
and tempt each other
with all the luscious brown foods —
roast beef, dark chocolate,
brownies, Guinness, homemade pumpernickel, molasses cookies
I'll make you my mama's bourbon pecan pie
we'll give all the packages to kind looking strangers
live in a cozy wood cabin
with a brown dog or two
and a black and brown tabby
I'm serious, UPS Man. Let's do it.
Where do I sign?

Comment on this blog! What is your favorite color? Post your write in the comments of this blog for free likes and remembers from Marilyn and a chance to win a free class!

5 comments:

Writing Pad said...

Pink and Black

As a teen, everything was hot pink,
Aunt Sonia’s bad, homemade dye job,
her too bright lipstick that coated my cheek
in stinky saliva, hand-me-down Forenza
sweaters from my sister, the Troll
dolls that I played with, the cold borscht
that my parents slurped in beer mugs
over the summer, I shudder at the memory
of rubbery, hardboiled egg slices
suspended in magenta liquid
like a science experiment gone wrong.

As an adult, my world is black, I drink
French Roast, no cream or sugar, I walk
to clubs at night in high heeled, hoochie
mama boots, wear lace and velvet dresses,
black sparkly chokers, coat my eyes in a liner
called Smoke, indulge in caviar spread
on black bread, snack on licorice ropes, grill
Boudin over charcoal, and in bed,
in my black panties and tank, I close my eyes,
savor the monochrome of the dark.

In high school, a hot flush lived across
my cheeks, I wore my shame like blush,
a first generation girl trying so hard
to blend but unable to without the essential
tools: black Guess jeans, short boots
with studded belts, a non-barber shop haircut
of my dark locks, what I needed was a Geri curl
perm or a teased, aquanet poof, but instead,
my hair was feathered in all the wrong
places, a giant zit bloomed on my nose.

I’d spend Saturday nights underlining
key lines of Keats in bright, pink highlighter,
I’d dream of the day that I’d get a salon
haircut with hot pink streaks, buy
my own clothes, hide the tender flesh
of my birthright under an onyx, cashmere sweater.
Today, I look at the Matrushka on my desk,
her shiny, lacquer shawl, her pretty,
long eyelashes, I smile at her as I paint
my lips a bold color called Rapture.

Marilyn

Anonymous said...

Shades of Grey

The most successful people are those who can live in the grey. Life is full of so many black and whites. Right and wrong. Life and Death. Happiness and Sadness.

However, life’s uncertainties are truly where we spend most of our days. Never knowing what will come our way. Will the deal be closed? Was the tumor completely removed? Can she find her way home alone?

In our minds we weigh problems, dreams, fears and love hoping to find definitive answers because the black and whites are what bring, even for a brief moment, some clarity and even serenity.

But the truth is most of life is made up of degrees of grey, So when you can sit in those spaces of uncertainty and actually relish in their temperatures, you will find yourself living in the moment. The here and now; not needing to worry about the past or future.

That is why the most successful people are those who can live in the grey.

Victoria Pearson

A. said...

Looking up from the white clad apartment, from deep white shag rug through white cotton couch, and finally to the clear windows felt like floating on a cloud in a deep blue sky. Where we were, on the 25th floor, the blue was intense azure, fading slowly to a baby blue as it hit the skyline at the ocean water, another shade of blue.

Erika's blue eyes fell in the spectrum of sky blue, closer to baby than azure. And her hair and skin were so pale that the overall effect matched her surroundings perfectly.

While Erika lived in sharp glamour, my home was toasty warmth. My family lived at ground level, in the golden Los Angeles sunlight. Gold rays reflected from the brown painted fence and our beige house with deep chocolate trim. We matched our house too - deep chocolate hair of multi-texture strands and beige skin. Mom the deepest tan and dad the lightest tan, Sam and I somewhere in the middle.

Writing Pad said...

Hi Victoria,

I love this piece! I love that he most successful people are those who can live in the grey and that life's uncertainties are where we spend most of our days. I also really enjoyed the specific questions that you included after that line. I love the idea that the grey is an actual space where you can sit!

Thank you so much for posting!

Marilyn

Writing Pad said...

Dear A,

Thanks so much for posting! I love the opening image of the white shag rug and white couch where the narrator felt like he or she was floating on a cloud in the sky. I loved the toasty golden colors of the narrator's Los Angeles home and how the narrator and his or her parents were varying shades of tan.

Nice job!

Marilyn