NOT QUITE WHITE ***, free verse Options

[Maureen]

NOT QUITE WHITE - Amended version


White was nice,
white was bland,
white was not a colour.

God, he was sick of white – neutral white – blank palette white.
White overalls, white dustsheets.
Everyone was the same, like bloody sheep following the leader.
They all wanted white.

Where were the blues,
the pistachios,
cerise and aubergines?

When had white become the go?
Safe old white – cold white.
Icy white, white out, antique white.

What’s right with white?

He sat under the filtered light from the skylight,
smelt the fresh plaster,
noted the grain in the timber banisters soon to be painted white
and as he stirred and stirred
the colours deepened,
became strong and vibrant.
Alive.

He smiled. Surrounded by glass he stood
viewing the panorama of nature's vibrancy.

Green and blue,
yellow buttercups, wild crocus
and fluffy white clouds.

He began to paint his walls...
Not quite white.

NOT QUITE WHITE


White was nice, white was bland, white was not a colour.
God he was sick of white – neutral white – blank palette white.
White overalls, white dust sheets. Everyone was the same
like bloody sheep following the leader. They all wanted white.

Where were the blues, the pistachios, cerise and aubergines?
When had white become the go – safe old white – cold white
Icy white, white out, antique white. What’s right with white?

He sat under the light that filtered through the skylight,
He smelt the fresh plaster, noted the grain in the timber banisters,
soon to be painted white and as he stirred and stirred
the colours deepened, became strong and vibrant. Alive.

He smiled, stood there surrounded by glass, viewing the panorama
of natures vibrancy. Green and blue, yellow buttercups, wild crocus
and fluffy white clouds. He began to paint his walls. Not quite white.

Maureen Clifford ©

[Maureen]

Good on you Merlin for some great tips there - the idea of breaking that line down into three - excellent

smelt v smelled - apparently both can be correct; the "lt" form (smelt, spelt, etc.) is more British. That might explain it as by birth I am a pommie, but Australian by choice so the word smelt came naturally to me.

Mixing time frames along with bad punkchewashun - I pleads guild M'lud * note to self - must do better.

Now I take offence at your comment on sheep - I raised sheep 1000 of the littly woolly buggers and let me assure you SHEEP ARE NOT STUPID. They can be cunning, uncooperative, docile, feral, loving, brave, but they are not stupid. They follow each other and have the 'flock' mentality because that is their only real form of protection, but taken individually they are equally as smart as horses. I loved my sheep and saw them exhibit some truly remarkable behaviour. They made me smile and laugh and bought me to tears many times and I never ceased to find them a fascinating subject.

I will post up my poem about 'Hitler' one of my wethers - you will find out why he was named that. I also had one that initially we named Fat Boy because he was but I didn't want to cause him emotional harm so changed his name to Harley.

Daniel - bloody sheep - 'bloody' is the great Australian adjective and we use it for bloody everything out here from bloody blowies (blowflies) to bloody pollies (politicians) It is nothing to do with the colour red nor considered a swear word - it just is - bloody Australian. So no offence is ever intended

Cheers

Maureen