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August 12, 2010

The Rest of The Rainbow

The Rest of The Rainbow

(An homage to, and inspired by, Ken Nordine’s “Colors” )



Aquamarine

Aquamarine always wants to be seen
Seen on the scene, if you know what I mean

In the hippest nightclub or the hippest resort
All the hippest colors call her ‘Aqua’ for short

She flutters on by, she's a social butterfly
No color can match her, although they all try

If you ever make the scene with hip Aquamarine
It might seem just like a dream... or it might make you scream



Cyan

Cyan sighed again

Cyan's feeling blue
(Yes, the rumors are all true)

I don’t know what to do
about Cyan’s blue, bluesy-blue

Cyan thinks a Cyan thought inside his Cyan head
That he ought not to be blue at all
No, he’d much rather...
Rather be... Red!

(Red had no comment)



Pink

I think Pink is a fink

A low-down, rotten,
stinking pink FINK!

Pink tries to be cool
Pink tries to be coy
When the truth comes out?
Better watch it, boy!

Pink takes no prisoners
Pink doesn’t fight fair

Pink is just cruel, if all the facts be known
Pink is just wicked, right down to the bone

Pink is nasty, vile and bad!
Pink is evil, Pink makes me mad!

The other colors think Pink is okay
They just don’t believe the things I say

But I know the TRUTH!
I know Pink’s a FINK!

A low-down, rotten,
stinking pink FINK!



Ivory

Ivory sits high
way up in the sky
watching the elephants strolling by
as eighty-eight keys gently sigh
an ivory lullaby



Red

Red
Red
Red
Red

What can be said about flamboyant Red?
The brightest of the colors
The one that’s far ahead

There’s just no stopping Red
if the notion should get in his head

Red leads the way
Red fords the stream
‘cause Red has a vision
‘cause Red has a dream

All the other colors
just follow Red’s lead
‘cause Red know the path
to what they all need

Red



Silver

Silver is a bullet
inside a silver gun
that makes a silver flash of light
when fired at someone

Someone who might transform
in silvery moonlight
into a thing that’s oh-so-wrong
into a thing not right

Silver is so silver
Silver is so pure
Silver is an absolute
Silver is the cure

So seek those Silver linings
amidst the clouds so dark
And keep some Silver close at hand
In case you start to bark



Teal

What is the deal with Teal?
Is she for real?
And does she even care
how the other colors feel?

You see, Teal’s aloof
(in a Teal sort of way)
and pays no attention
to what the others say

But Teal has this appeal
despite her callous mood
and quite in the contrary
to her flippant attitude

Everyone just smiles at Teal
(Even if she wouldn’t)
Yes, everybody just likes Teal
(Even though they shouldn’t)

All of the colors swirl
in a multi-colored ball
while Teal sits in the middle
and just ignores them all

That’s the deal with Teal


Tan

Was there ever a plan
to over-look Tan?
Or did it just happen
the way happenings can?

Tan was always present
Tan was always there
but no one seemed to notice
and no one seemed to care

So Tan hired a P.R. firm
and started a campaign
and soon became famous
now we all know his name

But these days Tan’s a recluse
and mostly out of reach
But you can always get Tan
if you just hit the beach



Violet

Violet got violent, it just happened one day
Violet got violent, scared all the others away

No bright college student, nor Professor, nor Dean
has brains enough to glean why Violet got so mean

(Here’s the inside scoop...)

Violet got jealous when she saw a magazine
With Magenta on the cover, then Violet got green

(Green with envy)

You see, Violet was tired, and felt rather sour
about always being seen as a little frail flower

(Violet wanted POWER!)

Then Red got a notion, Red had a sly plan
Red thought of a way to get together again

Then all the colors declared a decree
They gave Violet a quadruple PhD!

So now’s she’s Ultra Violet!
(A doctor times four!)

And she’s no longer violent
Nope, not anymore



Indigo

Indignant Indigo turns up his nose
Turns it up high - Why? Who knows?

Yes, Indigo’s indignant for reasons all his own
It seems that his ego’s a bit over-blown

They put him in the Rainbow, between Violet and Blue
A last-minute addition to a well-balanced crew

Red, Orange, Yellow and Green were there too
All lined-up right next to Violet and Blue

But then came a whisper, a folded note passed
and Indigo was included at the very minute last

The other six colors thought things were just fine
Until that old Indigo got put in their line

He wasn’t Primary, that much was quite plain
Not even Secondary - Had They gone quite insane?

But They called in a favor, They pulled a few strings
and They put Indigo smack in the middle of things

The other six colors just had to grin and bear it
They had important work to do, and were quite glad to share it

But Indigo was Indigo, and just a bit too proud
He felt that he had earned his post with the Rainbow color crowd

He wanted to be recognized among the Rainbow crew
He wanted them to realize he was important too

But Indigo was lazy, he didn’t pull his weight
He sort of blended in there – hardly what I’d call great

So Time has passed, from First to Last
And bright rainbows still shine

And Indigo’s still indignant
And that is all just fine



Khaki

Khaki started off again
on one of his crazy rants
about how he was so much more
than just a color for pants

Khaki (so he claimed)
was made to DANCE!

Khaki... Khaki...
Khakkitty-Khaki
(You say it like that and it starts to sound wacky)

Khaki jumped up and started spinning ‘round
Until his pants started falling down

Then he looked like a clown
... and just sat back down



Orchid & Sienna  (A tragic tale)

Orchid feels sad
It really is too bad
A color that’s so pretty
should always feel glad

But Orchid feels down
Feels awfully alone
Ever since Sienna
Sienna left home

Sienna was a malcontent
In spite of Orchid’s love
And Orchid couldn’t fight back
When push became a shove

Sienna had wanderlust
Sienna wanted fame
So Orchid let Sienna leave
And now things aren’t the same

Orchid hopes Sienna
is happy now at last
But Orchid is still sad
Still living in the past

 
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Check out Ken Nordine's official Word Jazz web site with blog, podcast, and video: http://www.wordjazz.com/

13 comments:

  1. Wow, what a plethora! All great, but my heart goes with Cyan and Ivory. Thanks for a Monday morning treat!

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  2. What a wonderful smorsgabord of colours. Loving the personification. Especially Ivory

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  3. Yes, I always suspected that about pink. Glad to have it confirmed. Great fun with all the internal rhymes

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  4. It took me awhile to find your colors for the Poetry Bus, but it was worth clicking around to get here! Pink, Ivory, and Indigo were my favorites. Each was great, though.

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  5. What a wonderful collection. Go Red!
    But what color is orchid? All my orchids are different...

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  6. Ain't this excellent! I mean I struggled with one colour and you have a myriad of collection here...
    I completely liked your personal rainbow...
    I liked Indigo the best...some amusing shades of each color here... :)

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  7. OR•CHID [awr-kid]
    –noun

    1. any terrestrial or epiphytic plant of the family Orchidaceae, of temperate and tropical regions, having usually showy flowers.

    2. the flower of any of these plants.

    3. a bluish to reddish purple.

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  8. Eric, you amaze me. I love every single poem. Blessings!

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  9. Wow! And it all seems so effortless too.I was particularly tickled by the ivory!

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  10. ha. nice write..it seems i found my rainbow...smiles.

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  11. Woo! I am enthralled. this is my kinda writing! I have had some of my works called "Seuss on LSD"

    so this is in my camp, MR!

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  12. Strange how time changes one's opinion of things. My previous comment was over a year ago. Now my favorites are Ivory, Cyan, and Tan (of course you know I love Red). I guess what this means is that I love the whole bunch and should not attempt to pick faves!

    This set is really brilliant, Bubba.

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