Give me not statins
those white little pills
give me good greens
let me not eat too much red meat
whose production decimates
our blue marble planet
white meat takes a lesser toll
I will not eschew the yellow yolks
of eggs and go full vegan
limited to the orange, brown
and greens of lentils
the gold of grains the
white of rice and others
of the blond grasses
but let me sway more
in their direction
– to healthy balance
whatever colour that is…
© Andrew Wilson, 2025
Over at dVerse Poets Pub, Laura Bloomsbury in Meeting the Bar: Critique and Craft, invites us to write a poem with a colour motif and optionally, an Imagist poem.
- take one or more literal colours (not a fancy colour name)
- repeat the colour word(s) throughout the poem (e.g. refrain; anaphora, epistrophe)
- use colour synonyms
- employ colour with its specific meaning to the poem’s theme
- let your colour motif(s) also become symbolic
- Your poetry style is optional but you may want to experiment with Imagism. If so these are the guidelines:
- Use language of common speech. direct and economical, using common words and phrases.
- Embrace free verse. Disregard poetic meter but rather, focus on the rhythm of your phrases
- Your choice of subject should reflect real life
exploring the colour of health – very imaginative, Andrew – a poet in the pink one might say!
Thanks Laura, I imagine a lot of people at the pub write as soon as the prompt comes out but I often don’t see it till the next day and so, like this morning, I dashed it off before breakfast and just before taking the pills I do take…
I like the greens (if nothing else for taste)… and it makes life better I think
And they reduce your cholesterol without statins, Björn…
An interesting take on the prompt, Andrew. I love the colors in food that keep us healthy!
Thanks, Dwight, you are a country man I think, Dwight, so I am not surprised it appeals to you…
I love the direction you took with colors. And healthy eating is certainly something we can captain through. Thank you.
Eating the rainbow! 👏
😬
If only everyone was so health conscious, Andrew. Vegetables have all the best colours.
They do indeed, Kim…
Yes, what color is a healthy balance.
Good question Sara…
To eat or not to eat…the eternal dilemma becoming more confounding due to increasing so-called food influencers! I eat what I enjoy.
So good to read you Andrew after a long time.
Thank you so much Punam, I was doing the Poetry Postcard Festival for much of July and August and doing an original painting for each one, it took about 1.5 hours for each one. Then I was on holiday for two weeks – so yes it’s good to be back…