Hue-bris
I painted every living room wall,
but did not like the hue at all.
It didn’t match the sofa right.
It was too orangey and bright.
And so I sought to alter it
with another color over it.
A watery glaze applied with care
cancelled out that awful glare.
I did not like the yellow alone,
but thinly o’er the other tone
it did the trick and looked superb.
One color did the other curb.
Carefully on a section ample
I painted out a color sample
to show the painter what to do–
watered yellow over orangeish hue.
He was an artist and had an eye
for form and structure, grass and sky
but his talent was not English or
my talent was not Spanish, for
when I came home at end of day,
my cry was one of real dismay.
What had he done, this artist fellow,
but take the undiluted yellow
and cover all the orange up?
The room looked like a buttercup!
I shook my head in real distress.
It clashed with sofa, hair and dress.
Next day, the paint store saw me coming.
The owner smiled and started humming.
Money in hand, I came each day
to pay and pay and pay and pay.
Alas, selections were not ample.
I knew they did not have a sample
right for me and so I got
ten liters of yellow and also bought
orange and white and brown and green,
blue and every hue between.
I took them home and mixed them up–
tint after tint in a gallon cup.
And pretty soon I had a stew
of every little shade and hue
and when I put one on the wall,
I found it was the best of all!
It matched my sofa and my eyes.
It clashed not with the lawn nor skies.
It went with pictures, sculpture, table.
I mixed as much as I was able,
then called the painter and asked him when
he could paint my room again.
This time I watched as he covered up
wall after wall from my mixing cup.
Now four layers grace my sala wall
each over each, one under all.
White, then orange, yellow and
that lovely concoction mixed by my hand.
In other rooms, each wall I made
a different hue of blue or jade
or red or mustard, orange or gold.
My house is varied and very bold.
Guests say they like the colors I chose
but when they see the gold or rose,
they cannot possibly suppose
how many colors are under those!
For dVerse Poets we were to write a poem including Emily Dickinson’s line,
“Frequently, the woods are pink—” But instead, I used the line as inspiration in my choice of poems and hope after reading it that you can imagine that tree painted pink just outside my sala window!
lifelessons - a blog by Judy Dykstra-Brown 
I love this and hearing you read it was even better! Thank you for posting it, as I came on a little late and had a small child and cats making hearing difficult!
I love these:
“but his talent was not English or
my talent was not Spanish, for
when I came home at end of day,
my cry was one of real dismay.
What had he done, this artist fellow,
but take the undiluted yellow
and cover all the orange up?
The room looked like a buttercup!”
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I had so much trouble hearing the poems. Don’t know if it was the connection or my ears. I’m checking you out on dVerse to see if I can find your poem. It was lovely putting faces and voices to the poems!
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Yes, it is so nice to see everyone. Here is the poem I read: https://melissalemay.wordpress.com/2024/01/17/silenced/
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Good to see you on LIVE, Judy. I love the colors in your house and all of the art in it. The house itself is a piece of art!
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Oh that was something that I had noticed about your house, and you described it very well in a funny poetic way. This is one place that Shirley and did not always agree. In our house in Houston, I re-did the whole bungalow style house. The kitchen was done in a Dutch mode, with a very large Delft Blue ceramic scene for the whole backsplash, the whole wall behind the counters, and leaded glass windows with tulips, all done with my own hands. The idea was to have the cabinets the same Delft blue and walls accented in light blue~! That is where the problems came in. First, she thought it the cabinets were too blue, then she thought they were not blue enough after repainting it four times I told her to go get the blue, she wanted. she chose a blue that was almost gray. I thought it looked fine but NO LONGER DUTCH~! Oh my kitchen is now trimmed in a deep blue and off-white, with natural light oak cabinets, I love it. But the painting of the walls and woodwork did take on many long discussions between us, and I still live with what she chose today enjoying her good taste.
Cars also created the same problem, the last five cars plus the truck I bought for myself were either red or bright orange. She insisted that hers should be white, (keeps it cool, you know~!). Now in that case it was not my idea of what I liked best, it was and is a self-defense of my trying to find MY car in a parking lot full of white cars. That works fine. In Texas 99% of the cars and trucks are white~!
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I LOVE the colors! My house outside is yellow, and the front door outside is bright blue. The interior of the front and kitchen door are also bright blue, and a yellow kitchen! So many houses and walls, and cars, are so dull in the US. Visit other countries and they are so vivid and happy, like your poem.
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lThanks, Lisa..Photos?
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Love the poem, love the story behind the poem, love the liveliness and inspiration of the colors. Viva la vibrance!
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I enjoyed your reading yesterday, Judy, but reading it again this morning I have picked up on the fun rhyming, the nuances and wordplay, such as in the title – I love ‘hue-brisi’! I’m afraid our walls aren’t colourful at all – my husband prefers them white – so I make up for it with colourful rugs and cushions. I smiled at ‘The room looked like a buttercup!’
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Thanks, Kim. When I moved into the house, every wall was off-white. The color just grew year-by-year. A Mexican friend says it is the peyote that has leached out in the soil, giving everyone in Mexico an urge for bright colors…ha.
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That figures!
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This is such an adventurous poem Judy.
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I love the poem with all the rhymes and flow, it was great to hear you read it… truly a great event we had.
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Thanks for organizing it, Björn. Was that more participants than you usually have?
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We were twice as many
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Delightful.
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