Irene Latham's Blog, page 16

Coral Snake poem

 Hello and Happy Poetry Friday! Be sure to visit Michelle at Michelle Kogan for Roundup.

I've got India on my mind—because our youngest son is traveling to south India (Bangalore) tomorrow. He'll be gone for three weeks, so we'll celebrate Christmas a week late when he returns. I'm excited for him and can't wait to hear about his adventures!

Tomorrow I'll be taking part in the MISS FANCY festivities at Avondale Park 10 am - 1 pm. They'll unveil and dedicate the new life-sized statue of Miss Fancy at 11 am, and I'll be there with the good folks at Thank You Books signing copies of MEET MISS FANCY. Thanks to Avondale Library, there will also be a storywalk of the book through the park. I'm excited! 

For ArtSpeak: Animals I wrote quite a few coral snake poems. I'll leave you with two that share a "river" theme! Thanks so much for reading. Thanks also for your suggestion regarding 2023 ArtSpeak theme. I think I've decided! 😊

coral snake windingalong Amazon canyonthinks she's a river
- Irene Latham

As shadows deepencoral snake is all muscleand splash—red river
- Irene Latham

Maple Tree Magic (poem)

 Hello and Happy Poetry Friday! Be sure to visit Catherine at Reading to the Core for Roundup.

Goodness, how can it be December?? And how can our middle son be turning 26 today?? Happy birthday, sweet Andrew! (PF Friends, Andrew was the biggest baby in the nursery that day -- 9 lbs,, 15 oz! -- and today he has the biggest heart of anyone I know! I'm so lucky to be his mom.❤️)
Today's ArtSpeak poem was inspired by this beauty in our front yard:

No wonder the following art caught my eye when I was cruising animal paintings at wikiart.org!

two birds disappear,
re-appear amid crimson stars—
maple’s fall magic

- Irene Latham
Just four more animal-art poems to write for this year's theme (though today's poem might be more of a tree-poem-with-birds than a bird-poem-with-tree!)...what should be my theme for next year? Thinking... 
Thanks so much for reading! 

Quandry, Quarry, Quarrel (poem)

This post brought to you by the letter Q!
Hello and Happy Poetry Friday on this day after Thanksgiving! Be sure to visit Ruth at There is No Such Thing as a Godforsaken Town for Roundup.

This week I've got some hunting dogs for you! I, myself, have zero experience hunting irl, so for this poem, I decided to "hunt" for language, images, and meaning that would make hunting relatable for non-hunting folks like me. 

What did I find? Some great "Q" words! Thanks so much for reading.

Quandry, Quarry, Quarrel

Who could have predicted
the boat would mosey
this far from shore?

Not clutch of dogs
tense from morning's hunt

not ducks alert
amid thick nest of reeds.

Someone—
perhaps distracted
by blazing maples—

let the knot slip, or
never tied it at all.

How easily we break—

all of us waiting
for the next whistle.
- Irene Latham

Whenever You're Feeling Weathered (poem)

 Hello and Happy Poetry Friday! Be sure to visit Jama's Alphabet Soup for a feast of a Roundup.

I've been crafting! When I saw some "Alabama" shaped ornaments cut from old quilts, I thought, hmm, I can do that....and I did! :)

This week's ArtSpeak: Animals poem is for anyone (like me!) who's feeling a bit worn and weary here at the end of the year. Thank you for reading!

At Sea

whenever you're
feeling weathered

remember: waves
can rise feathered

and crane's
whitecapped wings

can unravel sky,
stir a hundred dreams
- Irene Latham

Squirrel and Cherries poem

 Hello and Happy Poetry Friday! Be sure to visit Buffy Silverman for Roundup. 

For today's ArtSpeak: Animals, I've abandoned Picasso but still going miniature with the poems. (Haiku? Small poem? I'm not sure!)

What I do know: I've got a squirrel for you. We have so many (destructive!) squirrel friends here at the lake that we regularly run a Squirrel Relocation Service—We use traps baited with bird seed and then transport our twitchy little friends to release them a few miles down the road.

However, I did not know (until viewing this piece of art and the research it prompted) that squirrels love cherries! Qi Baishi knew. Did you? Thanks so much for reading.

so much we'll never

know—was it squall or squirrel

that plucked these cherries?

- Irene Latham

Dove + Vote = Happy First Poetry Friday of November!

 Hello and Happy Poetry Friday! Be sure and visit Heidi at my juicy little universe for Roundup.

First, an Election Day poem (first published by Scholastic's Storyworks magazine in 2012) I like to share every voting cycle:

Election Day

Sift through promises,
replay interviews;

step inside the booth.
Forget scripted speeches

and candy-wrapped slogans.
Weigh again each pro

and con. Remember
the teeming world,

its people who dream
of freedom—

so many denied
the right to decide.

Read the names,
imagine a future;

make the best choice.
In the space between breaths

your voice is heard
without a word.

- Irene Latham
....and now, my latest—and final!—Picasso poem as part of my ArtSpeak: Animals project. (I'll be back next week with non-Picasso animal art-poetry. :) 
Friends, I had a hard time with this one. Doves, peace, olive branches are all so cliche! How to make fresh? 
I wrote a bunch of versions, and decided to share a yin/yang duo, as I did last week with Picasso's sweet, prancing pig. 
This first (darker?) one makes me think of the fortunes we unfold from fortune cookies that are more like truisms than fortunes? See what you think. 

Look, an olive branch!

For dove's wings are not enough

to sway the faithless

- Irene Latham

...and now, take 27! It too can be read quite darkly...hmmm.... 

Thanks so much for reading.

sun tattoos dove's wings

with a thousand words for peace

only sky can taste

- Irene Latham

Picasso pig poem

 Hello and Happy Poetry Friday! Be sure to visit Jone Rush MacCulloch for Roundup.

We've been in the north Georgia mountains this week exploring the little railroad town of Blue Ridge. Actually, mostly, we've been walking and talking and sleeping and eating! (We needed a break!)

Of course I took a little time out to write the next installment of ArtSpeak: Animals. This week Picasso has a pig for us! 

Friends, I wrote a DARK poem. 

But it does a lot of the things I hope a poem will do, so I am sharing it first... and THEN, because I don't want to leave anyone in a dark place, I've got a more joyful pig poem for you. Thanks so much for reading...see you in November!

It looked so happy,the prancing pig on the rampto slaughter
- Irene Latham
-----------------------------------------
with a snout like thatyoung pig can't help but followevery fresh scent
- Irene Latham
 

Picasso Dachshund dog poem

 Hello and Happy Poetry Friday! Be sure to visit Bridget at wee words for wee ones for Roundup.

Last weekend we had our community fall festival. It was so great to see friends and neighbors enjoying pumpkin painting, scarecrows, food & craft vendors, hayrides, and so much more... I was in charge of the silent auction, which brought in over $800 to turn back around into community programming. DH Paul was in charge of grilling 200 hot dogs. :) (This is an oddly appropriate thing to include in this post! Read on!)

Irene & Dahlia
(in front of Floyd Cooper art)A few days before that, I was at Highlights, where I met for the first time in person my friend Dahlia Hamza Constantine. Joy! Dahlia and I have written a picture book together that celebrates the joyful relationship between a girl and her grandfather "Giddo"— and traditional Egyptian arts like the Tentmakers of Cairo. It will be released by Nancy Paulsen Books in 2025. :)

Dahlia brought me issues of a new-to-me magazine from the UK called Daphne's Diary. It is full of whimsy and just thumbing the pages is an Artist's Date. This week I played with butterflies from inside the pages...and I'm still playing!

Irene & Charles hanging out on the
porch of cabin #10, where Poetry Friday
friends Laura Shovan, Linda Mitchell,
and Rose Capelli stayed before me!More about Highlights: It was my first time to visit, thanks to Charles Waters, who has a long history at Highlights. His enthusiasm was absolutely my favorite thing about the experience—especially as everything he's ever said about the people and place is 100% true. Beautiful, beautiful! And our group was so kind and brilliant! We really bonded over words and risk-taking and dreams...also, the fabulous Carol Hinz was there. I took so many notes during her talk and had a breakthrough on a wip. :) I'm so, so grateful and look forward to the beauty this group will be bringing into the world and especially into the lives of children. 
And this just in from that amazing publishing duo Janet Wong and Sylvia Vardell. I loved writing about friends both far away...and furry!

Today's Artspeak: Animals poem reminds me of the one Dachshund we ever owned, a black-n-tan cutie named Chester. Perhaps you have or have had a Dachshund in your life?? Do tell!

Meanwhile, the end is in sight for this Picasso mini-series...I'm thinking I'll write 2-3 more and then move onto something else. Thanks so much for reading!

whole long body

a smile perched on stubby legs

this dog

- Irene Latham

Picasso Ostrich poem

Whee! Hello and Happy Poetry Friday! Be sure to visit Matt at Radio, Rhythm and Rhyme for Roundup.

Oh my goodness, what a wonderful time at Highlights! More on this next week, once I've had a chance to unpack. Old friends, new friends, adventures, inspiration, delicious food, fall...my heart is full. :)

I didn't do much writing while there, but wow, on the (14 hour) drive home, I voice-recorded many many many notes, breakthroughs, and new ideas. I'm excited to sort through everything and share more.

I don't know what an ostrich has to do with Highlights (or anything), but I did tackle Picasso's drawing as the latest in this mini-series as part of my ArtSpeak: Animals project.

 Actually, now that I'm reading it again, it's kind of exactly where I am in my writing life as described above! Ha! How our poems reveal us... 

Thank you so much for reading.

ostrich swerves through grass

a blur of fluffy feathers

far from flightless

-Irene Latham

Live from Highlights!

 Hello and Happy Poetry Friday! Be sure and visit Sarah Grace Tuttle for Roundup.

The header is actually wishful thinking...but I am en route (driving!) to Highlights, where Charles Waters and I are leading a retreat on Poetry for Kids: A World of Publishing Possibilities. We're excited to share this time with other passionate poetry peeps!

 Earlier this week I posted about ghosts of AFRICAN TOWN over at Smack Dab in the Middle. Read the poem here.

And here's my latest ArtSpeak: Animals poem. Yep, another Picasso-inspired haiku! (The 10th, actually. I just counted. :) Thanks so much for reading.

on dark autumn morn

rooster will not be silenced

the sound of sunshine

- Irene Latham

p.s. Whatever's happening in the world, however dark the day...we can all be roosters! xo