Poetry Friday: “The Trees are Red”

I was recently talking to a friend who is also a children’s writer about creativity. she writes a lot of nonfiction and historical fiction and had asked if I could give her some pointers on poetic devices and styles to help her write more creatively. As we talked, I realized the biggest difference between poets and other writers.

We see things differently.

That’s not to say we have better perspective, better talent, better anything…we just look at the world in ways other folks don’t. It seems that when poets ask “why,” “how,” and “what if”…we get answers that often surprise even ourselves.

This poem, for example, was inspired by a Facebook photo posted by fellow children’s poet and illustrator, Samuel Kent, aka The Lunchbox Doodler. I got thinking about an “orange sky” and why it might be orange. Then I wondered…if the sky was orange, what colour were the trees and grass? And if they were all different colours…why??

Once I answered that last question, the answer popped in my head and I wrote the poem in about 20 minutes. Hope you like it! And if you still want more, Keri has all the Poetry Friday links!

.

The Trees Are Red

The trees are red.
The grass is blue.
The river is yellow –
The rocks are, too.

The streets are purple
All over town.
Nothing’s the same
Since that rainbow fell down.

– © 2013, Matt Forrest Esenwine

===================================================================

Did you like this post? Find anything interesting somewhere in this blog? Want to keep abreast of my posts?  Then please consider subscribing via the links over here on the right! (I usually only post twice a week – on Tue. and Fri. – so you won’t be inundated with emails every day!)  You can also follow me via Twitter or on Facebook.