As a school librarian, I’m always looking for ways to get students excited about literature. When a colleague mentioned paint chip poetry, I thought it was a great idea.
By paint chips, I mean the cards you pick up at the paint or hardware store. You bring them home and hold them against a wall and try to imagine how the colors would look in your room. Sometimes these chips are all one color; sometimes they are striped with several hues. At other times, they contain a color scheme the paint manufacturer has concocted.
The colors come with amusing or evocative or mysterious names. Sometimes they are downright silly. Pickle. Rachel Pink. Irresistible. Pinch of Pearl.
Linked by original writing, they can be turned into poetry.
Over the course of a few weeks, we had more than 200 middle-school students visit the library to make paint chip poetry. They were instructed to look through the piles of chips on the table in front of them, to find names that “spoke” to them. Then they would write their poems on scrap paper. When they were satisfied with their work, they would write the poems on the paint chips, then glue them together.
My colleagues and I wrote poems to use as examples. This is mine (the paint color name is within quotes):
The “Paper Dolls” were “Bewitched” by the “Lyrical Poetry” they heard at the “Spice Market.” Even the “Warrior” was inspired to write a “Letter to Juliet.” I arranged my chips horizontally, while my co-workers took a vertical approach. We did this without consulting one another, but it was good to be able to show the students there was no one right way to present their work.
Paint chip poetry has a strong visual element. The “Spice Market” card was the deep orange-brown of turmeric, for example, while “Warrior” was pale gray. Some students were drawn to the colors more than the names, but still ended up with interesting poetry.
When I try a new lesson, I am eager to see how it will work. In this case, the students understood the power of the words on the cards. It wasn’t all serious, though. A surprising number of paints have food names, and hunger-inducing poems were written.
Read these names and drool: Maple Glaze. Fresh Guacamole. Spinach Dip. Fruit Salad.
here were some that seemed just perfect for teenagers, like “No More Drama.”
Others just begged to be turned into reveries: “Moongaze,” and “Stolen Kiss” and Enchanted Meadow.”
One student wrote, “My dad told me a “Bedtime Story” about an “Upbeat” song that was heard from the “Cotton Clouds.”
Some students creatively arranged their chips in circles, or in off-kilter horizontal or vertical rows. Some decorated them with small drawings of flowers, hearts or clouds.
There was romantic poetry. “And for a moment I thought I saw the silhouette of a girl standing in the “Tidewater.” Her hair cascading down her back in an “Amber Wave.” Laying across layers of “Elegant Lace” and silk. But in a flash, she was gone, echoing the thoughts of “Something Borrowed.”
It was a time for education, as sometimes students didn’t know what a word meant. One card referred to “Amalfi,” confusing a student. “I think that’s a beautiful coastline in Italy,” I said. “But let’s look it up.” Ah, a teachable moment.
I found a chip called “Blue Azores,” and was delighted. Most of my ancestors came from that archipelago in the Atlantic, an autonomous region of Portugal. A student learning the English language was excited to find “Turkish Coffee,” and worked it into a whimsical poem involving an otter and an alpaca.
After the students finished, they read their work. Some were shy but others were excited to share what they wrote.
Later, our high school library assistants put the poems on a bulletin board, and when that was full, on two tri-fold display boards.
That’s a lot of poetry.
I was interested to see how the process works. The paint color names prompt images, thoughts, stories. But creating the poems is also a tactile experience. Students can move the chips around. Sometimes the order is obvious, such as the student who found chips featuring “morning” and “twilight” and “night.” Who would want to paint a wall black?” a student wondered.Good question, although I think it was actually a very dark blue.
Rachel Pink could be a person. Where is she going? What is she doing? Is she going to get a “Goodnight Kiss?”
I have done book spine poetry (piling books so their titles make a poem) with middle school and high school students and adults. I am always amazed by the creativity that pours forth.
It was the same with paint chip poetry. We are all poets, and given the time, the tools and the inspiration, we can all make the world a little more beautiful with our words.
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