Irene Latham's Blog, page 3

Blue House (Isn't Really Blue) poem

 Hello and Happy Poetry Friday! Be sure to visit Karen Edmisten for Roundup.

It's been a bit of a rough patch with my mom having some emergency health issues...I know many in this community have experienced this with one or both parents. Thanks for all you've given me to help me through it.

Today's ArtSpeak: PICASSO features a house! That's because we've had real estate on our minds as our youngest son has been shopping for his first house. He wants a fixer-upper, and he just may have found it! Fingers crossed. 

Meanwhile, here is my poem. Picasso titled his piece "A Blue House." It is a sad house, but it isn't really blue! So that became the theme of my poem. I could have just titled it simply "Blue House," but I wanted the reader to know right up front that this isn't a sad poem. This house is more complicated than that! Thanks so much for reading.

Blue House (Isn't Really Blue)

Broken windows.
Empty rooms.
No whistling kettles.
No sweeping brooms.

Spiders spin in peace.
Birds flash in and out.
Rain dampens corners.
Lush mushrooms sprout.

Blue House shambles.
Blue House sighs.
Listens for jingle of keys.
Waits for the sun to rise.
- Irene Latham

Peace poem after Picasso's flowers

 Hello and Happy Poetry Friday! Be sure to visit Michelle at More Art 4 All for Roundup.

Whew, it's been a plump and juicy week full of:

1) travel (research trip with Charles for our 2027 picture book!)

2) reading and offering feedback to many wonderful and talented poets

3) book club! (We read Ava's Man by Rick Bragg. Next up: )

4) baking for the Bake Sale that accompanies our community's annual Butt Sale (that's "smoked Boston pork Butts" for the uninitiated!)

This week's ArtSpeak: PICASSO features a classic piece of Picasso's art. 

I decided to go with an acrostic, partly as a way to "put my money where my mouth is" and write against my preferences (I'm generally not a fan of the acrostic form) and also because I wanted to force myself to write very sparely on this topic (as it is easy to turn sentimental or fall back on overused language and images). 

This is where I landed. Thanks so much for reading. Wishing you a PEACEFUL Memorial Day weekend!

Peace

Praise the hopeful bouquet—

each bloom plump with rain,

ardent suns spilling brilliant

color—at once an offering

            and also a tender

embrace.

- Irene Latham

Picasso Speaks of Pigeons poem

 Hello and Happy Poetry Friday! Be sure to visit dear Ramona at Pleasures from the Page for Roundup.

One of my favorite parts of this past week has been consulting with other poets about their poetry. I come away from these conversations completely inspired and grateful. And y'all, isn't it FUN to dive deep into our words and emotions?! I feel like I have made a bunch of new friends.

Also: the garden is exploding! Here's my first purple coneflower opening. It's been fun to watch it change shape each day.

Today's ArtSpeak: PICASSO features one of Picasso's paintings in the primitive style. (I know! Who knew Picasso ever painted in this style?! But yes. Yes he did.) He painted quite a few pieces featuring pigeons, so I knew this year would bring me a few pigeon poems! 

Here's "Pigeon Song," from February. And now I offer you the first poem in this series in which I've given Picasso himself a voice.

Other inspirations for this poem include Knocking on Windows by Jeannine Atkins. Jeannine's beautiful, powerful memoir-in-verse will release August 5. (More on this soon...Jeannine will be visiting Live Your Poem soon!) 

I copied many passages into my notebook, and I especially fell in love with Jeannine's final poem. It's hard sometimes to know when to get out of a story. How do you say goodbye? So that was definitely on my mind. 

Then I read "Future History of Earth's Birds" by Amie Whittemore, which was featured on poets.org poem-a-day earlier this week. In the "About the Poem" section, Amie said this: "I could envision a poem that celebrated the wild wisdom of birds while also mourning their diminishing numbers.” That statement brought to mind this painting, and off I went, in search of words! Thanks so much for reading.

Picasso Speaks of Pigeons

A thousand pigeons
once roosted here—

their cooing lullabied me
into fractured dreams.

For hours I splashed
the canvas with paint,

creating my sums
of destructions.

And now just one
remains—

one soft cooing.

Maybe it means thank you.
Maybe goodbye.
- Irene Latham

Night Fishing at Antibes poem

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

First and foremost: THANK YOU, poets, for your support of the Poetry & Punctuation webinar earlier this week through Inked Voices. (Isn't Brooke fabulous?) I loved our time together and appreciate the opportunity to learn with all of you! 

Also: if you have other topics you'd be interested in learning with me, would you please let me know in comments or email? irene (at) irenelatham (dot) com. Thank you!

In celebration of Mother's Day, I offer everyone a video of Great Horned owl Athena feeding her owlets. Y'all, it is the sweetest!

Today's ArtSpeak: PICASSO is after a pretty stunning and memorable piece. Watch this 8-minute video about it, and your life will be changed! 

I guess I've got fishing on my mind. Spring is a great time for it! 

And not just fishing for fish. How 'bout fishing for poems? 

I hope this poem feels relevant, whatever your metaphorical "fish." Thanks so much for reading.

Night Fishing at Antibes

and I would give you
a boat to anchor
your heart

a lantern
to illuminate
your courage

a blade to sharpen
your purpose

and a red-swirl
galaxy of gratitude

when your spear
pierces
its first fish
- Irene Latham

Mirror, Mirror on the wall poem

Hello and Happy Poetry Friday! Be sure to visit Mary Lee at A(nother) Year of Reading for Roundup.
Hooray, it's May! 
I have A LOT going on this month, including traveling today to Atlanta to hang out with my good buddy Charles at Little Shop of Stories' Children's Book Festival.
 We'll be schmoozing with the other authors (Katherine Applegate! Dave Eggers!) and presenting to kids and families about If I Could Choose a Best Day. YAY!
Last call for the Poetry & Punctuation workshop through Inked Voices!

Today's ArtSpeak: PICASSO was no doubt partly shaped by a few recent things:
1. The Dangerous Old Woman: Myths and Stories of the Wise Woman Archetype audio series byClarissa Pinkola Estes (Soundstrue)2. Beastly Beauty by Jennifer Donnelly ( a retelling of Beauty of the Beast in which the boy is the beauty and the girl is the beast!)
And...I can't title a poem "Mirror, Mirror" without thinking of Marilyn Singer and her marvelous reverso poem collections! Thanks so much for reading.
Mirror, Mirrorby Irene Latham
Mirror, Mirror on the wall,
you don’t know me at all!
My heart beats red
inside its cage,
my lungs are purple balloons.
Beneath my skin swells
an ocean of orange experience.
Even my eyes—
those soul windows—
cannot show you
my ten thousand skies
pulsing with stars, birdstorm
and great flashes of lightning.
Mirror, Mirror on the wall
you don't know me at all.

Some spring poetry books...and another spring poem!

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

I'm away from my desk today, having a little spring adventure with Paul! I'll share more next week.

This month I've been reading A LOT of children's poetry! Here's three I'd like to share a bit about:

Counting Winter by Nancy White Carlstrom, illustrated by Claudia McGehee.

This one was recently awarded the Lee Bennett Hopkins Poetry Award. I am in love with the art! And check out all the great verbs in this one: stalking, croak, gurgle, gliding, riding, skitter, hoot....And each poem has an adverb! Adverbs are generally highly discouraged in poetry, but here they are an essential element of the "form" for each number-poem. Check it out!

How Elegant the Elephant: Poems about Animals and Insects by Mary Ann Hoberman, art by Marla Frazee.

This one is organized A to Z...by poem title. So there's a lot of movement across the animal and insect kingdoms, sometimes jarringly so, like a "There Once Was a Pig" poem tucked between "Tarantula" and "The Spider's Web." But y'all: Mary Ann and Marla are magical together! (Remember The Seven Silly Eaters? Probably our favoritefavoritefavorite read-aloud with our kiddos.) I think my favorite poem in this collection is "Birdsongsingsong." Give it a gander!

Words with Wings and Magic Things by Matthew Burgess, pictures by Doug Salati.

I listened to an audio version (read by the author) before picking it up in print. Both experiences were delightful! In print we're given cutouts! And the ART: So. Much. Fun. Yay, Doug Salati! Here are a few of my favorite poems by title: "The Tiger in My Belly," "Dancer," "Have You Ever?," "Serious Question" (it has pizza in it :), and "The Tomato" (I am a sucker for a tomato...and for a tomato poem!)

Today's ArtSpeak: PICASSO is in honor of these recent glorious days...of all the seasons, I believe I have written more "spring" poems than any other. And spring is not even my favorite season! (Fall! I love Fall best of all!)

Here's a small sampling:

Early Spring Rispetto (it has cows in it!)

Two Parrots Walk Together is Spring 

When I Ride My Bike in Spring

Airing the Quilts

When I found this painting, I couldn't believe Picasso painted it! Truly, he was such a versatile painter, willing to try any sort of artistic style. I imagine him as kind of insatiable in his creativity. (I can relate!) Thanks so much for reading.

The Pool at Tulieries

Today is allsails & gentle,
sun & green.

Children ripple,
water giggles.

We launch
a thousand boats
in this dream
that is spring.

- Irene Latham

Lemon Poem

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

Yep, it's still National Poetry Month. Yay!

Today's ArtSpeak: PICASSO poem is a still life. It can be a real challenge to write a lively poem after a still life! But. I love lemons. And the morning I was writing this poem I had just blended a giant, seedless lemon into our morning veggie juice (spinach, cucumber, zucchini, lemon). The scent of lemons filled the kitchen! 

Savvy readers may recognize this poem is actually a triolet that I have broken into shorter lines and stanzas. (Sometimes I just get bored or the same ol' same ol' presentation!) Thanks so much for reading.

Lemon Poem

Keep a lemon
inside your heart
and all your days
will be golden—

each hour a beehive
of sweet and tart,
if you keep a lemon
inside your heart.

Imagine! Inside you
a tiny, puckered sun!
Zesty, molten—

Keep a lemon
inside your heart
and all your days
will be golden.

- Irene Latham

Spring Storm: Poetry Friday is Here!

 

art by Linda Mitchell
Hello and Welcome to Poetry Friday Roundup! I'm so glad you're here. Please leave your link below!

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How's everyone's National Poetry Month going? The poetry-love is strong in these parts...and so have been the storms! (This influenced my ArtSpeak: PICASSO poem greatly! Read on!) Isn't April grand?

In case you missed it, here is my April public poetry installation: a Poetry Machine! It's now moved to its location-for-the-rest-of-the-month Charlie B's Restaurant. So many thanks to owner-all-around-good-guy-Lee...I told him I have a new tagline for his restaurant: "Where Poets Come to Eat." Yay!

Also, I'm honored to be among the poets featured in Michelle Schaub's Poetry Blast video series for National Poetry Month. Click here to hear me talk about and read a very short apology poem titled "Yellow Dog Explains." Thanks, Michelle!

Today I wanted to share some poems, art, and "StoryPeople" by Brian Andreas. I discovered Brian's work many years ago on a trip to New Orleans. Paul and I came home with this piece:

Therearethingsyou dobecausethey feelright & theymay make nomoney & it maybe the real reasonwe are here:to love each other &to eat each other'scooking & say itwas good.
-Brian Andreas
And then (1993!) I got this one, called "Bittersweet"  - one for me, and one for my father:

She said she usually cried at least onceeach day not because she was sad,but becausethe world wasso beautiful and life was so short.
- Brian Andreas

AND THEN, last month, when I was with my mom and sister in Rome Georgia, at Dogwood Books, I picked up a well-loved copy of Brian's book, Traveling Light: Stories & Drawings for a Quiet Mind (2024). It's sigh-worthy start to finish! I'll leave you with a short one that makes me smile. Brian calls it "Final Reward."

finally realizesthat all the chaosis what makes tea worth it
- Brian Andreas

:)

What tea am I currently in love with?

Bigelow Salted Caramel (black tea)

And now for today's ArtSpeak: PICASSO poem. I found myself (again!) writing on a stormy morning. I decided to try a tricube. But then the poem demanded to be set free from that constraint...so I let it storm its way onto the page just the way it wanted to. Thanks so much for reading...wishing all of you spring storms like this one!

Spring Storm
For you Istreak a poemwith lightning
for you Iboom a poemwith thunder
for you Igush a poemthat flushesfield and woodwith brilliantblooming things.

- Irene Latham

Poetry Machine!

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

How's your National Poetry Month shaping up so far??

 I LOVED hanging out with Poetry Peeps during #HFGather earlier this week. What a great way to get the month of poetry-lovin' started!

And today, I'm away from my desk, hanging out with my Garden Girls! A different kind of poetry!

My public art project to celebrate National Poetry Month is a Poetry Machine! Basically it's a 25-cent gumball machine loaded with pods that each contain a tiny poem! I'm so grateful to Dawn at Pink Porch Market and Lee at Charlie B's Restaurant for giving my Poetry Machine a home during April...and maybe beyond! See video below.

Today's ArtSpeak: PICASSO features a Picasso landscape! I didn't even know Picasso painted landscapes...but yes, yes he did! This one features rain, because when I sat down to write this poem, it was raining, and I thought what fun it would be to write a "rain" poem to the sound of rain on our metal roof! (I was right: it WAS fun!) Thanks so much for reading.

When Rain Comes on a Sunday Morning
by Irene Latham


rooster calls to rain

cockadoodledrizzle!

gate squeaks to rain

thanks, I needed a bath

steeple sings to rain

you make me believe

child chortles to rain

now I'm all wet!

Little Goat Pantoum

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

First a reminder about next Tuesday's #HFGather event in celebration of National Poetry Month! Hope you can join us.

I'm looking forward to all the poetry-love our community will be offering in the coming weeks! Isn't NPM the best?!

Today's ArtSpeak: PICASSO features a goat! Goats have been on my mind since last week's Alabama Master Naturalist field day to Red Mountain Park in Birmingham, Alabama. Turns out goats have been park residents at one time or another. They're brought on to help control the privet, kudzu, and honeysuckle, which are invasive species. If you need this service, call Goat Busters! :)

Also: I learned on Clarkson's Farm  that it takes a couple of years for goats' mouths to harden. In other words, you can't expect young goats to be able to clear brambles! (Just in case anyone out there is considering bringing goats into their lives.)

Paul and I had a couple of goats early in our marriage...Beth and Billy. They were adorable! And also pests. They ate up my azaleas! 

When I was a child in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, there were LOTS of goats. I loved them. Especially when we'd go to get in our car, and a couple of them would be sleeping on top. They could be REALLY stubborn about (not) getting down! 

And then there's the Goat Trees in Dauphin Island, Alabama. Legend has it that goats would "roost" in the trees to ride out hurricanes...and also to escape roaming alligators. I believe it! 

I decided to write today's poem as a pantoum, because that's the page I flipped to in Dictionary for a Better World: Poems, Quotes, and Anecdotes from A to Z. (I often use Dictionary to hunt for forms to jumpstart poems!) I also found this great step-by-step guide to writing a pantoum. (Just in case anyone out there is considering writing one!) Thank so much for reading.

Goat Pantoum

If you want to meet a goat
let it be spring.
Climb a hill,
look for tender green leaves.

Let it be spring—
that nest of sun and song.Can't find tender green leaves?
Dream beneath a tree.

O, nest of sun and song!
What joy to climb a hill!
Dream beneath a tree
if you want to meet a goat.
- Irene Latham