Colouring Outside The Lines

Gold cherry
Poem of the week

By Lille Dante

Thu, 27 Jul 2023
  • 1122 reads
10 comments
 

Gifted with a colouring book
and a box of pencils, I choose
to draw outside the lines; or shade
those grinning animals, dressed up
in human clothes, with random hues
never seen in nature.
                                   No praise
for imagination, no prize
for sketching the spaces between
some other artist's notions of
childhood fantasy.
                               Felt pen ink
seeps into cheap paper and blooms
on the next page, as wildflowers
might invade a pristine meadow.

 

Certificate U
Poem
oblique stratagems
Autobiography

Comments

Submitted by Turlough on

The bold lines on the pages of a colouring book are probably our first experience of documented rules.

And the cheap paper - felt tip experience. They should print a warning on them.

This brought back memories of unasked questions.

Turlough

Submitted by Insertponceyfre... on

as wildflowers
might invade a pristine meadow.

as well they should! Enjoyed this Lille, thank you

 

Submitted by skinner_jennifer on

I love this poem so much because it captures so much of what art should be about. I've always encouraged not to be rigid with colouring, but enjoy letting colour flow with originality.

Very much enjoyed.

Jenny.

 

 

Submitted by Insertponceyfre... on

This is our Poem of the Week - Congratulations!

It's also our Facebook and Twitter Pick of the Day

Please share/retweet if you enjoy it as much as I did

 

Submitted by Lille Dante on

Most unexpected. I found half a poem in one of my notebooks and had a go at finishing it. You never know what will resonate!

 

Submitted by celticman on

I wasn't very good at staying between the lines. you show why. 

 

Submitted by Rhiannonw on

Was this a discovery or a memory? whoever has done it has enjoyed dabbing the pattern right over. And the pleasure sometimes of noticing the transfer through to the next page. 

I remember a son giving me such a lovely painting for my  birthday, of sea and gulls I think. ( He was very young) but I asked about what seemed to be an orange bird or something, and he hurrredly said that was a mistake - the 'Happy Birthday' written on the other side has seeped throug a bit! what pleased me most was that he hadn't scrunched it up and got upset when that happened, but still gave it to me.

some other artist's notions of childhood fantasy. Some children's illustrations, especially in cheap colouring books, are certainly not my taste! Rhiannon

 

Submitted by Kris on

Until I read this I thought coloring out side the lines coupled with doodles in magazines while talking on the phone & the occasional graffiti rage on pubic property (past) = confession... was a disconnect...

"with random hues never seen in nature" = totally relate...

Now it all makes sense, so poetically clear, I feel like I belong....wink

Well Done* Congrats, smooth & cool & a pleasure to read..

Thx LD ! yes

 

 

Submitted by Tom Brown on

Beautiful, why should you stay inside the lines, borders created for you and by yourself that do not exist, and improsined of colours locked bleakly from imagination. Killing all creation.

!! All the best ! ! Thomas!!

 

Submitted by Tom Brown on

Of course many borders really do exist! But usually there would be good reason even for the self-imposed. Rules should be clear, and a given rule may apply to one person and not the other. Everybody can't just do what they like otherwise there would not be civilisation!

Cheerio! Tom