Can I lie and say...

...it's a prose poem?

The Assignment:

Saturdays in my town people go to the hardware store to stock up on supplies for sprucing up their homes. Spring is a great time to apply a fresh coat of paint on old furniture, walls or maybe even a poem or two! Here’s the idea –- go to the hardware store (or an online paint store), and look up some colors you like. They tend to have evocative names, like white truffle or blackberry harvest. Maybe the whole idea of a hardware store makes you yawn, or worse, cringe. If so, head over to the make up counter, or browse the Clinique Eyeshadow store online. The idea is to find a color or two, write the phrase on a card, and then write down the associations you have with the phrase. Do a five minute free-write, and then turn your musings into a poem.

My Perhaps-Poetic Non-Poem

Why do so many makeup products come in various colors of nude? If one is going to approximate nudity, why doesn’t one just go nude and save the extra step? I also notice many variations on chocolates and berries and wines. But wouldn’t chocolate taste better than lipstick? And wouldn’t a berry stain last longer on the lips than lip-supposed-stick? And the process of coloring one’s lips with actual wine seems to be much more enjoyable than painting on a faint imitation of the real thing. And now I must make comment upon some actual colors (I believe these are from Clinique):
plum(b) nude – As we are all born, and my state for showering.
twilight nude – No, I take my showers in the morning usually.
nude beach – Hmmm, salacious! (Cover the kids’ eyes.)
creamy nude – Some are blessed, I suppose.
blushing nude – I would think so! I certainly would be, with an audience.
nude rose – Let’s hope! Why would a rose wear clothes?
metallic sand – Might hurt the toes
mochaberry – The dangers of genetic modification?
Lancome gets a little more creative, though their titles run to the prescriptive. Pink to the Club, one supposes, should be worn to a club…as opposed to the Pink in the Limo, which one presumes should be worn in the Hummer limousine. (But what if I’m not in a pink-y sort of mood?) One wonders at their Prune Drama Girl; pictures of a geriatric hysteric come to mind. Rock Icon Pink seems to explain itself. Brick House, not so much. I think my preferences run more toward the Urban Decay approach. Their lipsticks come in such rich, realistic titles as Indecent (pale peach), Gash (blood red), Hotpants (pink), Jailbait (nude, of course), Sellout (neutral), and Trainwreck, Pistol, and Buzzkill. At least they’re honest. And in the interest of honesty, I should add that I have not worn any form of makeup in about a decade.