Blue is a memory
of days at primary school:
of dipping pens into inkwells,
the scratch of italic nibs,
and a summer sky outside
the classroom window,
copying a poem by Blake
or some old poet on lined
paper, a blue tint of words.
Blue was the colour
of our uniform, much darker
than ink, more like the night,
hiding stains and individuality:
normality in navy blue.
Kim M. Russell, 27th November 2019
My response to Thotpurge’s Poetry Tuesday #4 – Blue, also linked to Poets and Storytellers United Writers’ Pantry #48
Rajani says that for the last Poetry Tuesday offering this November, the prompt is ‘Blue’ – sky, sea, mood, music, sapphires, ink – blue is where poems begin!
writing in north norfolk 
Sigh.. I miss my blue uniform and my blue ink pen too!!!! Such precious memories! And before the pens that had those ink-filler-things attached, we had little droppers that were used to fill ink in the pens- made a godawful mess too!!! Thanks for reminding me of the good ol’ days, Kim! And am so glad you made it to Poetry Tuesday. Hope you get better soon! Take care!
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😊
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That brings back memories! Both my schools had Navy blue uniforms….I wouldn’t wear the colour for years after as I associated it with school.
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Me too!
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😱
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Love this poem. Needed a feel good today.Forgot about ink wells and nib pens. Gosh we’ve come a long way People of our age have been through so many changes. That is why we are so interesting:) One of my favourite poems of yours.
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Thank you so much!
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I couldn’t help thinking of blue pencil editing, reinforced by your last line. Some colors are abused. We used blue at a newspaper, as it didn’t show up in the photo technology. In school, my work was red penciled. When I was a teacher, I used green. I wonder if it made a difference.
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Oh yes, Susan, the colours make all the difference.
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OH MY GOODNESS! I had forgotten inkwells, and what a mess I made on the paper, doing thoose circles they made us do – mine always scratched through the paper. I am only surprised there were not more spilled inkwells. Today they would ALL be spilled. LOL. But we were scared of our teachers back then.
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I still like writing with a fountain pen, only mine has cartridges.
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What a delectable tribute to my favourite colour!
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Thank you, Rosemary!
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This is as neat as a copied poem – there seems some comfort in the colour..a warm memory
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Thank you, Jae.
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I quite liked school (not only that it was mixed) but I enjoyed sport and most subjects except Latin! Goodness knows why a dead language was still taught but ancient Greek was as well!
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I loved school, Robin, until I had to move from grammar to comprehensive, where I felt very uncomfortable, as I was better at English, languages, art and music, and didn’t do domestic science with the other girls.
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“copying a poem by Blake
or some old poet on lined
paper,”
These little words so heavy with nostalgia
Happy Sunday Kim
(✿◠‿◠)
much love…
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Thank you, Gillena. Happy Sunday!😊
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Ink wells and nibs….hard to believe that was us. I can’t remember why but we were not allowed to use biros or whistle)
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Great work, KR. I woke up with a slight case of the blues, but this fine recollection lifted it. Thanks.
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Thank you, Ron.
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I had almost forgotten the inkwells (but not the shorthand). The poem I wrote was from Macbeth. Blue is a time travel color/
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Inkwells weren’t part of our writing–I seem to remember thick pencils and that Denelian (sp?) cursive workbook. Love the way blue washes over everything in this, from the sky to the ink and gives the feeling of one thing melting into another.
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Thank you, Wyndolynne.
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My school days were different. No uniform for one. The desks in elementary (grammar) school had holes where ink bottles would have gone, but they weren’t used anymore. I never did copywork either. I enjoyed the “memories” in the poem, whether yours or the narrators though. I use black pens.
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I use black ones these days too!
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Navy blue was exactly the color of my elementary school uniform. I saw inkwells but never used them.
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I don’t think we ever got beyond pencils in my school. Strangely, I cannot remember writing with a pen! I do remember the hole in the desk top where the ink well used to be, however!! Strange, now you have me wondering the first time I wrote with a pen, and what sort of pen was it!
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We had italic nuns and learned italic handwriting.
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“hiding stains and individuality:
normality in navy blue.”
I really love those lines, a world of stories can be bled out of the imagery. I remember how hard we worked in making our uniforms look unique. In the end, we’ll always still in uniform (just adorned) and sometimes in the principle’s office.
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Thank you, Magaly. Most of the girls at my school got into trouble for rolling the tops of their skirts to make them shorter. My skirt was so long, if I’d rolled it I would have looked pregnant!
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Ha! I went to a Catholic school ran by nuns with no sense of humor. I suspect that if any of us tried to shorten their skirts, they’ve would’ve probably leave us a limb or two shorter.
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Did you know that the ancients quite possible did not see blue? Nor did the Romans and other cultures as they had no word for it. I never had a school uniform as I went to Quaker school. I always wanted one though. I like the blue, darker than night. Wonderful poem Kim!
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Thanks Toni! I didn’t know the ancients might not have known blue. I wonder what colour they thought the sky was.
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You have given us the perfect feeling of what it’s like wearing a uniform, no matter the color, we become indistinguishable from the rest.
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Thanks for reading and commenting, Helen.
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l love your poem…hiding stains and individuality…so true!
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Thank you, Ayala!
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