Greetings from California! We always spend a big chunk of Boston’s winter season in sunny San Diego, renting the same apartment every year in the Hillcrest neighborhood. We have senior bus passes, a library card and we’re members of the renowned San Diego Zoo, going at least once a week. February is “Museum Month” in San Diego. All museums of every kind have half-price admission. Last week we went to the Mingei International Museum in famous Balboa Park. We saw a fascinating exhibit about indigo.

We learned that a number of plants can produce indigo dye. Indigenous people around the world have different methods of using the plant to make the dye. For example, in Japan, plant leaves are shredded, dried, left to compost (ferment); tossed, mixed and watered; then dried into balls to be used later in a dye vat. In West Africa, the leaves are pounded. In Europe, the leaves are ground. Fresh leaves can go directly into a dye pot with fresh water. An alkaline agent such as ashes, lye, or urine is added to start the fermentation process. In the vat, as its being stirred, it is a VERY yellow-ish green….not in any way purple or blue (the colors you associate with indigo). Textiles are then dropped into the vat to dye. When they’re pulled out, they’re that bright yellowish-green, almost chartreuse! As it oxidizes it turns blue!

“In pre-colonial times, indigo was highly valued and traded across continents via land and sea routes. The long rich and bloody history of the Silk Road, an ancient trade route stretching across Asia, into Africa and Europe, is saturated with indigo dye cakes, powders and textiles. Colonial power – including the English, Dutch, French and Spanish – established indigo plantations worldwide. In the Caribbean and the United States, enslaved Africans were dehumanized, treated as a commodity, used for their expertise with indigo and forced to work on plantations.”

When I think of indigo, I think of denim and when I think of denim, I think of Levi Strauss. One of the most interesting things I learned recently is that “in 2022, one of the oldest pair of Levi’s still in existence was sold at auction. They are believed to be from the 1880s, and were discovered in an abandoned mineshaft, incredibly well preserved. Printed inside on a pocket is the phrase ‘The only kind made by white labor,’ a slogan Levi’s adopted later in the nineteenth century. The jeans sold for $76,000.”

So, it’s Quadrille Monday, the day to create a poem that is exactly 44 words, sans title. You must also use a particular word, or a form of the word, within the body of the poem. Today’s word is “indigo”. So to be clear, you must write a poem of exactly 44 words (not including the title) and within the body of the poem, you must include the word “indigo”. I’m looking forward to reading your quadrilles!

New to dVerse?  Need to be refreshed on the rules? Here’s what to do:

• Write a quadrille (a poem of EXACTLY 44 words, not including the title) AND include the word “indigo” or a form of the word WITHIN THE BODY OF THE POEM. A synonym for “indigo” does not fulfill the prompt. It must be the word, or a form of the word.

• Post the poem to your blog AND add the exact URL for your poem to Mr. Linky below.

• REMEMBER to either TAG dVerse in your post, or include a link at the end of your poem that leads readers back to dVerse (https://dversepoets.com). 

• If you do not TAG or include a link to dVerse at the end of your post, I will gently remind you to do so. After all, this will increase your readership and comments, and others will find dVerse and hopefully join in the fun. If you do not add the TAG or link after my reminder, I will remove your post from Mr. Linky. I do not want to do that! So please do include the TAG or link!

Photos and quoted information in 3rd paragraph are from the indigo exhibit at Mingei International Museum in San Diego, California. Quoted information RE Levi Strauss is from The Small and the Mighty, by Sharon McMahon, pages 26 and 27.