Irene Latham's Blog, page 17

Picasso Fox poem

 Hello and Happy Poetry Friday! Be sure to visit Tabatha at The Opposite of Indifference for Roundup.

Now that we are entering the last quarter of the year (!), I've got my One Little Word on my mind... WHIMSY. How has whimsy played into my life? When I look around my house, I see a whole lot of whimsy! Here's the latest addition:

Yep, I repurposed a leaky canoe into a raised bed garden! Don't you dig the blue paint? I planted kale for fall, and I kind of love it. :)

I think I've added some whimsy to my writing life, too...taking more chances, being more playful, stretching my imagination... 

For this week's ArtSpeak: Animals, I've got another Picasso for you! And a bonus poem, too. It kind of emerged as I was trying to write about the fox. (Don't you love when that happens?!) Thank you so much for reading.

a lone duck callsand from the tall grass a foxsets world ablaze
- Irene Latham

...and speaking of foxes...here's the bonus poem, just right for this time of year! :)

with a fox fora soul, it blazes all hoursthis autumn maple
- Irene Latham

Picasso grasshopper poem

 Hello and Happy Poetry Friday! Be sure to visit Rose at Imagine the Possibilities for Roundup.

I'm on the road today, heading home from my mom's. She's about halfway through her radiation treatments, and we are in the process of getting her moved closer to us. It's a big undertaking!

I'm also in the process of querying agents for a big sweeping novel for adults. (My agent doesn't represent adult projects.) It's not my favorite way to spend my time, I'll tell you that! But I love this book SO MUCH. And this is just part of the journey, right?

For this week's ArtSpeak: Animals project, I am still really enjoying this Picasso mini-series! (This is #8.) I'm just going to keep going until I get tired of it, or until I run out of Picasso's animal drawings—whichever comes first. Thank you so much for reading!

Little grasshopper

springs from stalk to stalk—playing

hide and seek with sun

-Irene Latham

Picasso Elephant poem

Hello and Happy Poetry Friday! Be sure to visit Kathryn Apel for a Down Under Roundup.

This month while the tv runs college football games, I've been piecing a quilt! 

I realized a while back that I had quite a lot of black fabric in my stash. Black is not the most popular color to include in a quilt—which has made a black quilt project all the more enticing! I decided to use strips and construct squares on the diagonal—kind of a "crazy" quilt—and then arrange 4 squares to create some sort of funky block. 

(I am not a precision quilter! More of an improvisational quilter, ala the Gee's Bend quilters.)

As I've been sewing, a name for the quilt popped into my head: "Midnight in the Garden of Good & Glorious." 

No "evil" in this quilt! But lots of midnight. And my sweet friend Donna gave me some beautiful black-horse fabric, so I'll be incorporating it into the back— which I haven't figured out yet! I'll keep you posted.

In ArtSpeak: Animals news, I'm still having fun with Picasso. Today I have a sweet little elephant poem for you. Thanks so much for reading.

how jubilantly

elephant calf welcomes dawn

parade of mothers

- Irene Latham

Picasso Mouse poem

Hello and Happy Poetry Friday! Be sure to visit Carol at Beyond LiteracyLink for Roundup.

with Daniel on his first birthday,
September 1995September is a big birthday month in my family. Both my parents were born in September. One of my brothers. My eldest son. A niece. A nephew... actually, I learned that more babies are born worldwide in September than any other month. 

In recent decades in the U.S., that month is August, followed by July. Interesting, yes?

So this month has already held some birthday celebrations, and we're not done yet! 

Switching gears...this week's ArtSpeak: Animals continues my Picasso mini-series. Meet Picasso's mouse, who has quite an impressive tail! It just seems wrong to write anything lengthy about these simple line drawings, so I am getting some practice as a miniaturist/haiku poet lately. It's been fun...and challenging! Thank you so much for reading.

just behind the door

a mouse parades down the aisle

bride of shadows

-Irene Latham

Picasso Owl poem

 Hello and Happy Poetry Friday! Be sure to visit Linda at TeacherDance for Roundup.

Holy September, it's football season. That's a pretty big deal 'round these parts! On Friday nights we really enjoy supporting our local team—a small 1A K-12 school with a stadium perched atop gorgeous Straight Mountain. Lupita's ice cream truck is usually there, too, which is always a treat. 

I'm continuing my ArtSpeak: Animals Picasso mini-series with an owl! Owls are one of those subjects well covered by poets, so it feels like quite a challenge to write something fresh about them...but how could I NOT tackle it, when Picasso's art is so dang adorable?! Thanks so much for reading.

the mystery is

how owl so round and ruffled

learned to drink moonlight

- Irene Latham

p.s. Here's a site featuring 51 owl poems, some familiar, some new to me. Enjoy!

Picasso penguin poem

Hello and Happy Poetry Friday! Be sure to visit Tanita at fiction, instead of lies for Roundup.

I'm away from my desk this week, but I do have for you the latest in my ArtSpeak: Animals Picasso mini-series. 

This week, a penguin! Picasso's penguin reminds me of the Penguin Books (one of my publishers!) logo, which is pretty basic:

...and it makes me think of the book Mr. Popper's Penguins, which I love. 

And who can forget the penguin dance in Mary Poppins? (Makes me smile every time!)

And...it's not my first time to tackle penguins. WHEN THE SUN SHINES ON ANTARCTICA (Lerner, 2016), with illus. by Anna Wadham, features nature poems about four kinds of penguins who nest on the frozen continent: Adelie, gentoo, Emperor, and chinstrap penguins...for which I was able to cover penguin courtship, nesting, fledgling, and play time!

Other have found inspiration in penguins, too. Pablo Neruda in his poem "Magellanic Penguin" includes this stanza:

Penguin, static traveler,
deliberate priest of the cold,
I salute your vertical salt
and envy your plumed pride.

read the complete poem here.

Finally, here's today's effort. Thank you so much for reading!

penguin surveys waves

only one leap between ice

and deepwater flight

- Irene Latham

Picasso Flamingo poem

 Hello and Happy Poetry Friday! Be sure to visit Dave at Leap of Dave for Roundup. 

You know that feeling when you finally finish a big, consuming project, and experience the relief and euphoria of being DONE—only to find yourself floundering a bit, lost and confused, not knowing where to send your energy next?

That's been me this week. 

It's just weird to not have focus after being ultra-focused for several months. I've tried to be gentle with myself, reading a lot, letting whatever's next find me, instead of pressing so hard into the (writing) wind...it's okay to take it easy sometimes. 

Perhaps it's these thoughts that influenced my latest effort in my ArtSpeak: Animals Picasso mini-series. Please meet Picasso's flamingo...thanks so much for reading!

flamingo poses

in shrinking summer puddle

rain dance

-Irene Latham

Picasso Dog Poem

 Hello and Happy Poetry Friday! Be sure to visit Margaret at Reflections on the Teche for Roundup.

I'm continuing my ArtSpeak: Animals Picasso mini-series this week with a dog drawing. 

I'm not sure what Picasso intended when he drew this dog, but to me, it looks like a dog vigorously scratching—on the side that we cannot see. (What do YOU see?) Thanks so much for reading. 

dog can't stop

tiny itchy visitors

summer picnic

- Irene Latham

Picasso Cat poem

 

Hello and Happy Poetry Friday! Be sure to visit Molly at Nix the Comfort Zone for Roundup.

Earlier this week BE A BRIDGE was released! It's the 4th book Charles Waters and I have created together (brought to us by Carolrhoda/Lerner, illustrations by Nabila Adani), all about acceptance and inclusivity, with some really concrete ways even very young kids can practice being a bridge. It's got some fun, useful back matter, too, to extend this topic through activities and a Bridge Builder Pledge. 

We can all be bridge builders!

This week's ArtSpeak: Animals poems begins a new sub-series I'm doing. Recently I spied in an antique shop a framed set of 6 of Picasso's simple line animal drawings. I took a picture, and when I came home, I discovered Picasso did 24 of these! 

I'm excited to write poems for them....starting with this cat. :) Thank you so much for reading.

cat wakes

stretches snow out of bones

morning prayer

- Irene Latham

If Cows Were Red or Yellow (poem)

 Hello and Happy Poetry Friday! Be sure to visit Marcie Atkins for Roundup.

A bit of a rough week here in LathamLand, traveling to help my mom through round of chemo, only to have those plans foiled by covid—which has delayed her treatment until next week. In the meantime a series of other unfortunate events, but nothing that can't be overcome. Thanks for your prayers and well wishes...my mom is a trooper!

I decided to write about cows, because my mom LOVES cows. She has a long history with them, not the least of which was her 4-H Grand Champion dairy cow, Penny.

Mary Hedden (16) & Penny
The art I found invites imagination, so I was able to bring in some thoughts/ideas/imaginings I've had lately about the word "someday."
I've always loved the promise of "someday," but recently I read/heard (somewhere) that "someday" is a meaningless word, because there's no real date/time associated with it. It's all pie in the sky, as any future could happen—or not. Which begs the question, what in the world is certain anyway? Not that got my cows making the long walk home!
What are your thoughts/feelings on the word "someday"? 
Here's my poem. Thank you so much for reading.

Someday

cows will be red or yellow
we'll fill our pails with orange milk

escape the swelter, take shelter in a barn
where cool dirt curls between our toes—

remember brown cows, sweet milk?
our together-breath will purple the air

such joy a secret delicious thing
in the land of what may or may not be
- Irene Latham