Some time ago a friend gave me a copy of Han Kang’s “The White Book”, described as “a lyrical and disquieting exploration of personal grief through the prism of the colour white”. I had enjoyed reading the book and engaging with Kang's unique explorations of the colour white and so I suggested to my writing group that as our next project, we could each choose a colour and, over the course of six weeks, make our own explorations of our chosen colour.
The colour I chose was grey - a favourite colour of mine. I began by mapping the associations that came to mind from thinking about the colour. I then turned these ideas into a list poem which in turn became the focus of further exploration.
Grey
Rhondda Grey
River grey
Rain
Rain
Rain
Clouds
Mist
Shadows
Webs
Eyes
Hair
Jets
Warships
Doves
Bedroom Paint
School Uniform
Slate
Squirrels
Scans
Grey Areas
Grey Matter
Grey Mare
Moth
Mouse
Moon Rocks
Grey Sidewalk
Grey Glove
Grey feather
Sloughed Snakeskin
Vacuum Cleaner Hose
