Crayon Box Favorite

Meg Freer

wreaths of periwinkle interlaced
placed on children’s graves

flower that crushes cancer
fairy’s paintbrush

strange sweet shades of violet
serenade blood disease

pale pastel purple
periwinkle blue

The Science

Crayola® added periwinkle blue to their crayon boxes in 1958. The first recorded use of periwinkle as a color name in English was, according to the Oxford English Dictionary, in 1922. Sometimes the periwinkle plant is called a fairy's paintbrush. Because it makes a good ground cover, it was often used in cemeteries, and in Italy this fiore di morte (flower of death) was placed on children’s graves. European herbalists have used periwinkle since medieval times to treat many ailments. Modern scientists have discovered that the Madagascar periwinkle plant contains many alkaloids, two of which, vincristine and vinblastine, block cancer cell growth and are used in chemotherapy. Vincristine is used to treat children’s leukemia, and vinblastine is used to treat Hodgkin’s disease.

The Poet

Meg Freer grew up in Montana and lives in Ontario, where she writes and teaches piano. Her award-winning work has appeared in many journals and anthologies, as well as in two poetry chapbooks: Serve the Sorrowing World with Joy (Woodpecker Lane Press, 2020) and A Man of Integrity (Alien Buddha Press, 2022). She is a member of the Ontario Poetry Society and the League of Canadian Poets and holds a Graduate Certificate with Distinction in Creative Writing from Toronto’s Humber School of Writers.

Next poem: Desert Bloom by Catherine Hulshof De La Peña