Irene Latham's Blog, page 13

The Moon in June - Welcome to Poetry Friday Roundup!

Hello and welcome to Poetry Friday Roundup! Our theme for today is "The Moon in June." Please add your link below...and take a moment to enjoy all the lovely poetic offerings! 

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I wanted us all to share moon poems because I hope this post will be a valuable poetic resource for educators in conjunction with my new book THE MUSEUM ON THE MOON (Bushel & Peck, 2023, illus. by Myriam Wares). It features 20 poems about some curious objects humans have left on the moon. It just got its first (glowing!) review:  “The poetry and facts complement each other and make for a nice flow of information and fun.…A lovely picture book that mixes poetry and history about the moon.”—School Library Journal
Is there a poet among us who has NOT at some point written about the moon? Click here for a MOON padlet I created that includes some moon poems I've collected so far!
I love Karla Kuskin's instructions, found in her collection MOON, HAVE YOU MET MY MOTHER?, which is also the title of her Collected works from HarperCollins 2003, illus. by Sergio Ruzzier:

Write about a radish

too many people write about the moon.

The night is black

the stars are small and high

the clock unwinds its ever-ticking tune

hills gleam dimly

distant nighthawks cry.

A radish rises in the waiting sky.

- Karla Kuskin

So, here's to radishes and all the fresh ways poets of today and yesterday write about the moon!

And now it is my pleasure to share some moon offerings from a few of today's beloved children's poets.
Marilyn Singer's book A Full Moon Is Rising (Lee & Low, 2011, illus. by Julia Cairns) opens with “Broadway Moon” and closes with:


Broadway Moon Again
New York City, USA

On the sidewalk, the audience of one is now ten.
“What you looking at, girl?” they ask.
“O, the moon,” she says. “Just the moon.”
But what a moon!
Between the skyscrapers, it takes a bow.
“Encore in one month!” it proclaims.
“Admission is always free.”

- Marilyn Singer
“Broadway Moon Again.” Poem from A Full Moon is Rising. Poem copyright © 2011 by Marilyn Singer. Illustrations copyright © 2011 by Julia Cairns. Permission arranged with LEE & LOW BOOKS Inc., New York, NY 10016. All rights reserved. Learn more at leeandlow.com/books/a-full-moon-is-rising. 
Don't you love "Admission is always free" ?? Lovely!
The next moon poem comes from J. Patrick Lewis, found in his book Phrases of the Moon: Lunar Poems (Creative Editions, 2018, illus. by Jori van der Linde). Thank you, Pat, for giving me permission to share this one...and for calling the moon an "eternal museum"... my forthcoming book also uses the museum metaphor. Yay!


The Moon Is

Man or woman,
Rabbit or cat,
Depending on what
You're gazing at.

Misshapen in full
Or parenthesis,
So often mistakenly
taken for Swiss

Cheese. Dusty trustee
Of famous footprints
Of twelve astronauts who
Have landed there since.

Eternal museum
Where folklore abides,
Sojourner of heavens,
Re-turner of tides.

The luminous news
(Farmer's Almanac),
A cool monthly cruise
Round the zodiac.

- J. Patrick Lewis
Finally, I've got this magical one I just want to read over and over again from Rebecca Kai Dotlich in One Minute till Bedtime: 60 Second Poems to Send You off to Sleep selected by Kenn Nesbitt (Little Brown, 2016,  illus. by Christoph Niemann). Thanks, Rebecca!

Sky Story

Who has the keys
to the moon,
to the moon...
who has the keys
to the moon?
Not me,
said the owl,
said the owl;
no keys.
Not me,
said the mouse
as he nibbled his cheese.
Not me,
said the bee.
Nor I, said the fly.
Only I, said the sky.
Only I.
- Rebecca Kai Dotlich


And here is this week's ArtSpeak: Light poem. It has a very long title. (Do you, like me, love very long titles??)


Soliloquy of a Moth Upon Rising from the Rushes Just as Moon Sheds Her Robe of Clouds

O Queen of Tides

O Mirror of the Sun
Crabs are dancing
their sideways dance
Sky is surging
as I tilt toward you
and only you
O Beauty, O Muse
O Furnace of a Thousand Dreams

Burn me

- Irene Latham
I'll have more moon goodness in the coming weeks. Thanks so much for reading...now let's get ready to dance with the July Supermoon! (Or at least say hello/make a wish/send a kiss.) 💜

Auburn and ALA and "Remembering That Late Afternoon" poem

 Hello and Happy Poetry Friday! Be sure to visit lovely word-loving Linda at A Word Edgewise for Roundup.

Reminder: next week Poetry Roundup will be a "Moon in June" theme here at Live Your Poem! I can't wait to read your moon poems...and/or whatever else you choose to share! 

Thanks to the generosity of good folks at Auburn University, I have been writingdreamingrevising this week from the Lowrey Guest House. Uninterrupted writing time where I can really dive into my wip without distractions of dishes and dog and garden etc. is such a gift! I'm so so grateful...and also very pleased with my progress!

And today I am traveling to Chicago for ALA! It's not my first time to Chicago, but it IS my first time to go to ALA. I'll be signing THIS POEM IS A NEST at the Astra booth 3020 Saturday 11:30-12:00. NEST is one of those pandemic book releases that missed out on these type of opportunities, so YAY!

Also on Saturday, Charles and I will be attending the Scott O'Dell Award luncheon with the committee and Scott O'Dell's family members. So exciting! We'll be signing FREE copies of AFRICAN TOWN at the PRH Young Readers booth 2811 Saturday 3:30-4:30 pm.

This week's ArtSpeak: LIGHT poem is a love poem. I love love poems, don't you? The title comes from the title of the art. Thanks so much for reading!

Remembering That Late Afternoon

a window with no walls

my body a house of light

your eyes full of rivers

a piano in every treetop

- Irene Latham

Night Storm poem

 Hello and Happy Poetry Friday! Be sure to visit marvelous

Michelle Kogan for Roundup!

Reminder: "The Moon in June" will be the theme for Poetry Friday Roundup happening June 30 here at Live Your Poem. Can't wait to read your moon poems!

I got a little artsy this week when I finally got the paintbrush out and put some flowers on this shutter (pictured left) I bought a couple of years ago (!) to hide some electrical wires. Never too late to complete an art project. :)

Also, we finally finally got some rain after a very dry few weeks. (Now my rain barrel is full again—yay!) No doubt the storm is what inspired this week's ArtSpeak: Light poem. Thanks so much for reading.

Night Storm

When thunderclouds batter their drums

Moon doesn't shrink or shudder.

Come, she says, dance with me—

And the streets sing beneath her quicksilver feet.

- Irene Latham

Still Life with Lemons poem

 

a new friend for Esther (SNAIL'S ARK)
Hello and Happy Poetry Friday! Be sure to visit lovely Buffy Silverman for Roundup. 

Many thanks to Buffy for including the note about the June 30 "Moon in June" themed Roundup, happening here at Live Your Poem. Looking forward to reading your moon offerings!

I've been down (but not out!) with poison ivy this week. It is SO HARD to be a gardener in Alabama when you are as allergic to poison ivy as I am. I do so many things to prevent exposure, and still that nasty urushiol finds me several times a year. Grrr.  

In happier news, I'm attending Folklife in the South conference and learning much about textile arts and traditional Indian dance and a bunch of other things. Color me INSPIRED!

This week's ArtSpeak: Light poem took me a while. I wanted to write something different, surprising. Most (all?) of the poems in this series contain the word "light," and early iterations of this one did too..."scrap of light." Which I do love as a phrase. But then I realized including "of light" wasn't necessary here—"a scrap / snatched from the sun" can be nothing BUT "light!" See what you think. And here's to breaking the rules in service to a poem, even when they're ones you set yourself! 

Still Life with Lemons

What is a table
but a graveyard
for flowers?

What is a teacup
but a place
to drown?

What is a lemon
but a scrap
snatched from the sun?

-Irene Latham

Meadow Song + Moon Invitation!

 Hello and Happy Poetry Friday! Be sure to visit terrific Tricia at The Miss Rumphius Effect for Roundup.

Happy birthday today to my sweetheart Paul, who thinks June birthdays are simply the best birthdays...hard to argue with that, given all that sunshine and laketime and fireflies flickering! We're definitely in the "sunrise sunburn sunset repeat" mode around here. Though I have been spending a good bit of time with my cello, especially since I receive the music for the cello camp I'm attending in July. 

It's A LOT. 

If I wanted to, I could be completely overwhelmed. Instead, I'm taking it one song one measure at a time and trusting what I know to be true of musicmaking (and writing!): yes, it's a challenge, but I won't be sorry I did it. Joy!

Invitation: Friends, I will be hosting Roundup on the last Friday of this month, June 30. I'm in the process of creating educator resources for my forthcoming THE MUSEUM ON THE MOON, and of course I'd like to give them lots and lots of poetry! With that in mind, I'd like to do a "Moon in June" themed Roundup! You're invited to share a favorite moon poem (yours or someone else's), a moon story, a moon memory, a moon dream...or whatever your moon-heart desires! Together we'll be able to provide a moon-poetry-landing for all. Thank you!

This week's ArtSpeak: LIGHT poem is kind of fun...or at least it was fun to write! I hope it brings to mind wonderful summer memories. xo

Meadow Song

Meadow may I
dance with you?
Swing and sway
and sing with you?

Meadow may I
bring a friend?
Giggle and picnic
until day's end?

Meadow may I
share your light?
Fireflies and I
will glitter all night!
- Irene Latham
Finally, two more things to share today:
1. If you need a good book recommendation quick, try Shepherd.com, which invites authors to share their favorite books in a fun and friendly way. I've discovered some really great lists, like "the best contemporary nature poetry." 
2. I just read and loved BITTERSWEET: How Sorrow and Longing Make Us Whole by Susan Cain (author of QUIET: The Power of Introverts in a World that Can't Stop Talking). It has changed the way I think about myself. Are YOU bittersweet, like me? Take Susan's quiz to find out!

Cat's Life poem

 

Hello and Happy Poetry Friday! Be sure to visit lovely Patricia at Reverie for Roundup.

For this week's ArtSpeak: Light series, I've got a cat for you. 

Our cat Maggie has been all over us since we returned from our little getaway. It takes her a few days to give us all the love she banked up in our absence. So sweet!

One of the highlights of our trip was horseback riding on the beach. Once upon a time I was quite the horse-loving girl, and it still surprises me sometimes that my life veered away from horses. It makes the time I spend with them now extra-special! My horse was named Oscar, because he's kind of a grouch in the stall. But put him on the trail, and he's a happy guy! What fun.

Now we're back home for the official opening of Lake Season. I'm excited to get back in the water. What are you excited about today?

The cat in my poem is excited about something, too! Thanks so much for reading.

when from the kitchen

briny scent of tuna
begins to rise

the light
of a thousand flowers
blooms in Kitty's eyes
- Irene Latham

Here's the Church, Here's the Steeple poem

 Hello and Happy Poetry Friday! Be sure to visit lovely Janice at Salt City Verse for Roundup.

I'm happily away from my desk this week—taking a break from all the regular things to have some new adventures. 

This week's ArtSpeak: LIGHT poem features a steeple. 

Last week in comments I had a question from Patricia about where/how I find the art for this project. Thanks, Patricia!

When I started out the year, I did a search on wikiart.org for "light." That brought up a number of public domain art pieces with "light" in the title...and also "light art," which is a kind of art in which the artist actually uses electricity and lights to create a piece of art. Cool, right? 

But these search results didn't speak to my poet-heart. So I decided to let the art find me. It is quite common for artists to play with light in their compositions. I decided that the paintings needn't be about light—the paintings could be anything. The project is an exploration into my thoughts and feelings about light, and the poems are my playground. 

As soon as I made that realization and released myself from any "light" constraints, the art started finding me! For instance, for this week's poem I found the art in the daily art calendar gifted to me this past Christmas by my son Daniel. (A few other pieces I've written on so far this year have also come from the calendar.)

And this week, the location and title of the art actually heavily influenced the poem. While I have never been to Zeeland (a province in the Netherlands), I can just imagine walking these streets. Thanks so much for reading!

Walking in Zeeland
When I see a steeple
rising from a nest of eaves,
I pull my mother's hand.
May we stay, please?

For a town with a steeple,
has more light, more sky.
And the swooping swallows
glide so close, so high!
- Irene Latham

Poem with a Yellow Parasol

Hello and Happy Poetry Friday! Be sure to visit for radiant Robyn at Life on the Deckle Edge for Roundup. I wanted to share the Gee's Bend-style quilt top I made with my mom and Gee's Bend quilters Mary Ann Pettway and China Pettway. I went 100% improvisational, and made myself not ruminate over artistic choices. I picked a fabric and just went with it, no turning back. So much fun!May brings so many wonderful things: my nephew's graduation from college; my annual cello recital; lunch with friends at the lake; etc!
And this year, it brought me PINK EYE. Grrr. After a round of antibiotics, I am nearly recovered, but y'all, it's been rough to show up for all these happy things when not feeling anywhere close to my best.
This week's ArtSpeak: LIGHT poem insisted on being a haiku...which feels especially appropriate given haiku-master Robyn doing the Roundup! The poem also insisted I keep it simple...despite my best efforts to flower it up! (Somehow I think the woman in Frieske's art would appreciate that fact. She seems happy in the shadows, happy to let her accessory be the attention-getter, rather than herself. I can relate!) And I wrote it two ways. 
Question for the hive: which do you think is the more effective poem, and why?

 yellow parasol

perched high upon her shoulder

another sun

- Irene Latham

unflinching sun

perched high upon her shoulder

yellow parasol

- Irene Latham

Thanks so much for reading. 

p.s. Have you seen the documentary JUDY BLUME FOREVER yet? Don't miss!

Vespers poem

 Hello and Happy May! Be sure to visit lovely Linda at TeacherDance for Roundup.

This week I posted over at Smack Dab in the Middle about 3 Ways to Grow as A Writer. I hope you'll check it out!

In other news, I learned I'll be attending ALA Chicago in June. If any Poetry Friday friends are also attending, would you please let me know?

This week's ArtSpeak: Light poem is a prayer for light that is fading...and for deer! If you look really close, you'll see there's a herd of deer in that fog. Cool, huh? Thanks so much for reading!

Vespers

To the sun
who has shone
so bright,
so steadfast

To the field
who offers
sweet,
tender grass

To the mist
who swaddles
all in warm
ghost-light

A whisper
of appreciation
as this bit
of the world

rounds
      into
            night.

-Irene Latham

When Poems Fall from the Sky by Zaro Weil

 Hello and Happy Poetry Friday! Be sure to visit radiant Ruth at There is no such thing as a godforsaken town for Roundup. 

First: have you heard Matthew Winner's The Children's Podcast Poetry Month series of poems? So many beauties there! Be sure to check it out. I was honored to read my poem "I Followed A Little Cat One Day" from my ArtSpeak: Red year. :)

I'm excited to share with you on this, the final Poetry Friday of National Poetry Month, a visit with French poet and amazing person Zaro Weil!

I first blogged about Zaro in 2020 after I read her lovely CLiPPA award-winning book CHERRY MOON:Little Poems Big Ideas Mindful of Nature. Read poems from the book here.

Now, lucky us, CHERRY MOON is available in the US...and she has a new beautiful book WHEN POEMS FALL FROM THE SKY, published by ZaZaKids Books and Troika Books, which is all about climate change and nature and language and hope. You're going to love it!

Not only has Zaro given me permission to share one of my favorite poems with you, she also popped in to respond to a few simple prompts about her experience writing WHEN POEMS FALL FROM THE SKY.

Here's a favorite poem from the collection, which on the page has this lovely arched indented shape that I can't accurately represent here...all the more reason to get thee a copy straightaway!

If You Can Hear Me

By Zaro Weil

If you can hear me

know that I dream

 big things for you 

  skies of pink

   whenever you wish

     show-dust stories

      whenever you hope

      starry blossoms

     whenever you wake

     but most of all the

   pit-a-pat heartbeat of

  earth still green

 sea still blue

ice still cold

---

Gorgeous, yes? And now please welcome Zaro!

Zaro Weil

IL: DIFFICULT

ZW: How do we address the destruction of the planet with children? 

How do we see the world of nature from the point of view of nature itself when so much is at stake now? 

And when nature is being destroyed every day in every way. 

How do we tell the truth? Gently.

These were the questions that kept rolling wave-like over me again and again as I was writing this book. 

Knowing how important it was to find the hope.

 So children could know there is hope. For it is there. 

In the continual renewal of life...in the sunrise which is is also our story.

IL: DELICIOUS

ZW: Imagine going inside the mind and spirit of a hummingbird. Or a tree? Or a seed? 

How delicious is that! 

And how fulfilling to create different literary forms in the book; little plays, myth, raps, haiku, rhymes and more. 

Because When Poems Fall is an expression -a love letter really- to earth. 

An earth that is informed, nurtured and inspired by both science and poetry. 

And finding the clearest literary and understandable expressions to best illustrate complicated ideas 

was an immeasurably delicious undertaking.

IL: FRESH

ZW: Fresh is always and forever the unexpected. The original. 

Something that can't help but surprise. Even astonish.

For me as an author, it doesn't start with the words I say. 

Or how I choose to say them. It's about the fire-power. 

The energy I must summon to ensure that I am on the scent of a fresh idea. 

On the hunt for the unexpected. 

And for something I hadn't understood, known about 

or thought about ever ever ever before.

---Fire-power. Yes! Thank you, Zaro, for your words and for your life!
As for my ArtSpeak: Light poem...this week took me to the CITY. I kind of fell in love with this little girl in the yellow dress.... Thank you so much for reading!

City Song

We sing in the city
a funny, sunny chorus
across sidewalks
and traffic jams
down garden paths
and up glassy towers

We sing in the city
a blue-sky kind of tune
mothers, fathers
pups and flowers
everyone singing
about the light
that is you
- Irene Latham