Noticing Purple

Have you ever noticed how much purple appears in nature?

There it is, just growing around the neighbourhood.

Even purple street art seems right somehow – I like to imagine the paint was pressed from petals hanging over walls or flicked like dust from French lavender.

Purple is grand, striking and just a tiny bit posh.

It’s not as Look at me Look at me and flashy as the colour red but it is a head turner just the same.

Look at some of the purply words out there  –

lilac

violet

plum

indigo

magenta

Saying them aloud makes me feel like a 19th century lady with my taffeta skirts swishing down the hallway taking tea in fragile china cups after doing a bit of flower arranging. I am a bit fancy when I say those purply words but am not all in your face about it.

Purple – you brighten my day subtly, unobtrusively. You take the blinding blue sky and dilute it, comforting me like the hand of a friend on my shoulder.

I like that it only takes a few steps out of my door to find you.

I like that I notice you almost without noticing.

I like that you are the colour of morning and evening.

I like that you are hazy and clear.

I like that Alice Walker knows exactly what I mean –

I think that it pisses God off if you walk by the color purple in a field somewhere and don’t notice it.

A big purple Amen to that.

16 thoughts on “Noticing Purple”

  1. HA! Great minds and all… I wrote a bit about our currently flowering jacarandas today. Yes, purple is quite posh and elegant and understated and lovely.

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  2. Ah, yes. Purple – the color of power and wealth. Ancient hegemons revelled in their robes of purple, robes dyed in the mucous of snails, a commodity so precious only the wealthy could afford to tint themselves so.

    I step outside my door and, like you, find purple everywhere.

    I feel rich.

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  3. that is a wonderful tribute to the color of purple and its relative shades, such an eyeopening color, isnt it, and the alice walker quote is one of my all time favorites. thanks for this, its beautiful!

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  4. I heard it said somewhere that there is no word in the English language that rhymes with ‘purple’ I can’t think of one offhand, anyway.

    I like purple, too … although, in my writing, I do try to avoid ‘purple prose’

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  5. Hi LAURI:
    I do love the colour of the jacarandas. Ours hasn’t started flowering yet. I think it might be drought stressed. When it does flower the garden is very much the posh affair. I love it!

    Hi JONAS:
    I didn’t know that about the snails. That is so interesting. It is a great feeling to see the purple – a kind of spiritual wealth.

    Hi TIPOTA:
    I do love that Alice Walker quote. I completely feel it and agree with it. Purple is incredible – it has enriched my life!

    Hi TRAVELRAT:
    Haha. I think the other unrhymable (is there such a word) colour is orange. I can’t think of one for that either 😆

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  6. Plum is a perfect word, I feel 🙂 This is a wonderful dedication to purple Selma and I love how you have captured the subtletly of the colour:
    ‘comforting me like the hand of a friend on my shoulder’
    You have reminded me to continue with my colour poems – I got rudely interrupted by that bastard black!

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  11. Yay!!!! My favorite color – I could have given you so many lovely purple pictures LOL!!!! I think the color purple would have really liked your post!
    I know I did!

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  12. That makes me smile. Pissing God off, I mean. Surely we do it waaaay too often. =D

    I ♥ purple. I don’t understand why some people give it a bad rap. It IS the color of royalty, ya know. 😉

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  13. Hi GABRIELLE:
    I really like plum too, especially if you put a lot of emphasis on the ‘m.’ Oh, I hope you continue with your colour poems – I was really enjoying them!

    Hi MELEAH:
    I would love a purple room. I am also a big fan of purple. It is an awesome colour!

    Hi GERALDINE:
    Pale mauve is very nice. And quite posh 😀

    Hi RACHEL:
    I do like a bit of purple in my day 🙂

    Hi TBALL:
    I thought of you when I was writing this because I know how much you love purple. I couldn’t find any photos of darker purples though. I’ll have to go farther afield for that. When I find some I’ll post them for you,

    Hi AINE:
    Oh, we certainly do. I think we need to stop and look around more and appreciate the wonder of the world. And if I was a Queen I would definitely wear purple !!

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  15. LOL I was gonna add my two cents worth about how I like purple too…..then I started looking around the apt and realised that EVERY one of the arrangements of dried or plastic flowers I have, there is purple in all different hues! So guess I’ll change that to I LOVE purple too!

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  16. Hi ROSHAN:
    You would look extremely dashing in purple. You should incorporate some into your wardrobe!!

    Hi CATHY:
    Now that you mention it I have a few dried arrangements with lots of purple. Guess I like it a bit more than I thought too!

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