Irene Latham's Blog, page 33

Elizabeth Bishop: Poet AND Artist

Hello and Happy Poetry Friday! Be sure to visit Sally Murphy for Roundup. (Shout-out to all our Aussie poet-friends... keeping you in our hearts in the face of those devastating fires.)

This has been a whirlwind of a week for me... I've been sick (Paul, too -- no fun), but a few wonderful things have been happening in my writing life, and I'm so grateful to be able to share them with you:

1. I turned in the final draft of THIS POEM IS A NEST, a collection of one big (nest) poem and 160 (!) (short) poems found inside coming from Wordsong later this year. Now it's with the copyeditor, and also with illustrator Johanna Wright, who will no doubt make it even more magical!

2. Charles Waters and I were interviewed by Time for Kids magazine for a feature they are doing that will include our book DICTIONARY FOR A BETTER WORLD with illustrations by Mehrdokht Amini (coming in just 3 1/2 weeks from Lerner!).

3. Amy Huntington, amazing illustrator for my NINE: A BOOK OF NONETS stopped by to answer some prompts and share some sneak peek illustrations from the book (coming from Charlesbridge 6-9-2020). (Yes! Nine is my favorite number!)

4. THE CAT MAN OF ALEPPO, my book with Karim Shamsi-Basha and Yuko Shimizu (coming from Penguin 4-14-2020) got its first review, and it's a STAR from Kirkus (Hooray!): ★ “Based on a true story, this picture book is distinctive for its engaging narrative and impeccable illustrations . . . A beautifully told and illustrated story that offers a unique perspective on both war and humanity.” –Kirkus, starred review

5. My latest book deal with Charles Waters was announced!

... and in my personal life, Paul and I have just booked a trip for next month to Phoenix-Scottsdale-Sedona-Grand Canyon. The desert, in winter! (Surely we will be feeling better by then!)


So. What does this all have to do with Poetry Friday and Elizabeth Bishop? Everything! I have long admired Elizabeth Bishop's "One Art," but I did not know until last week when I made my plea for "red" art that she was also an artist. Thank you, Jan Annino! And that got me thinking about those in our community who identify as poets AND artists, of which there are several! So this week's ARTSPEAK! Red poem is after Elizabeth Bishop's painting "Red Flowers on Black." (The flower is called "devil's paintbrush.")



<!-- @page { margin: 0.79in } P { margin-bottom: 0.08in } </style> <br />--> <div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><b>Devil in the Night</b></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">Devil paints with a red paintbrush –</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">says, <i>hurry hurry rush rush rush</i></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">Devil sings a shrill high note</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">says, <i>give up, give in, there is no hope!</i></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">But Night knows all we have is time –</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">slow and steady is how the moon climbs.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">Night breathes. . . hear the hush?</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">Night paints with a faith-filled brush.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><i>- Irene Latham</i></div><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"></span></span>

Brought to you by the Number NINE -- and children's book illustrator Amy Huntington

Happy January 9! What's special about today? Well, it's the first 9 of the new year... and this year 9 is my favorite favorite number!
Why, you ask? Well... because of the new book I have coming June 9, 2020 from Charlesbridge called NINE: A BOOK OF NONET POEMS with illustrations by Amy Huntington.

Friends: these illustrations are extra-special because they tell a story. Yes, Amy added a whole amazing narrative to my collection of poems! I'm so grateful to Amy and to our ultra-creative editor Karen Boss for turning my collection of poems into a 9-inch x 9-inch (yes, even the book's trim size celebrates the number 9!) Number Nine Extravaganza!

To introduce the book, I've invited Amy Huntington to respond to a few of my favorite prompts. You may know Amy's work from some of her other projects, like one of my favorites: Fresh-Picked Poetry: A Day at the Farmers Market (words by Michelle Schaub) Charlesbridge, 2017. Also coming in 2020, Monsters Like Us (Beaming Books). And more books are in the pipeline... Amy is a busy creator! Which makes me especially grateful she's here today. Friends, please welcome children's book illustrator Amy Huntington!


The difficult:
sketch of girl
that became Tisa
in NINE: A Book
of NonetsAH: Toward the end of 2018, I received a batch of gorgeous poems from Charlesbridge Publishing. Irene’s “nonet” poems. Each one different from the next, but all connected by one thing, a numeral, a digit - the number “nine.” My job as the illustrator was to weave a story through the collection…with pictures. Whaaaat? How was I going to do this? From the poem about a cat’s nine lives, the ninth president, Apollo 9, the Little Rock Nine, to a nine-banded armadillo? Eighteen in all. But ha ha! I love a challenge!
I began as I always do…with some characters. This little girl I had developed for an earlier project but never used. She was pinned above my drawing table, asking to be considered. (It looks like she is holding a loaf of bread here. Nope, it’s supposed to be a rock, but that’s another story.)
The delicious:
AH: My girl needed a friend, and she soon had one. So then it became a game of introducing each poem through the characters day, and fiddling with the chronology of poems to reflect that passage of time. Because I love to use animals, the cat and armadillo are featured characters as well. Who doesn’t love an armadillo!
art by Amy  Huntington

And now that I have a cast of characters, what medium(s) should I use for the final art? In this case I chose gouache, colored pencil and a bit of digital. I love playing around with paints, collage, drawing etc, until I find the perfect combination for the final art. The process is always delicious! This is one of my favorite spreads. Each character was painted separately and plunked onto the field with Photoshop.
art from "Play Ball!" spread

The unexpected:
AH: There are always some spreads that I know will demand a bit more thought/research/planning. I was sort of putting off doing “Beethoven’s Ninth”. It’s not just a simple quartet. There are LOTS of musicians. But I love how this painting turned out!
art from "Beethoven's Ninth" spread
Something else unexpected? I got to do endpapers!!!
endpaper art by Amy Huntington

Thank you Irene for giving me this rich assortment of beautiful nonets to illustrate!
Thank you, Amy, for making this book a beautiful love song to the number 9, and the age 9 and all the many (many!) fun sets of nine found on every spread. Mwah!

3 Words for #CYBILS Elementary Nonfiction Finalists

I'm delighted to be serving this year as a CYBILS judge in the Elementary and Middle Grade Nonfiction categories... and oh what lovely finalists the panel has selected! Today I offer you 3 words (that are not included in the book's title) that come to my mind after reading most of the Elementary category finalists. (One title I haven't yet received... more on this one as soon as I've seen it!) Meanwhile, read these titles! You'll be glad you did.

Don't know yet. :)
Ice. Journey. Hope.
Accurate. Accessible. Birth.
Change. Light. Hope.
Surprises. Analogies. Variety.
Danger. Heroes. Bravery.
Sax. Bebop. Passion.

A Red Poem to Start the New Year

Hello and Happy Poetry Friday! Be sure to visit Carol's Corner for Roundup.

This year I am showering myself with compassion. One concrete way I am doing this is by transforming my annual National Poetry Month  ARTSPEAK! project from a poem-a-day activity during April to a weekly installment on the blog. Today mark's the first poem! As you can see, I selected "red" as my theme. That evolved out of my choice of "red" as my One Little Word for 2020. Read more about why I chose "red" in this post. I'm curious to know your thoughts and impressions about the color red, and also if you have any favorite art pieces that feature red (and after which I might possible write poems!). Please share in comments!

And now, here's a red poem, inspired by the badge art for the series: "L'Atelier"(the studio) by Henri Matisse. I immediately thought: that's what it must look like inside my brain!



A Dream of Red
Inside my headthe walls are red –

paint drips, slips.
Projects unravelfor lack of thread.
Much remainsunformed, unsaid.
Yet poems floatin this sea of red –
here I do what I want.
I build a boat,mend a coat.
I spread red on toastand eat it in bed.
(Strawberry dreams ahead!)
The walls are redinside my head.

- Irene Latham

One Little Word for 2020

Happy 2020! For the past dozen years, I have selected One Little Word to serve as my guide and inspiration for the year. Here's a list of words so far:

2008 joy
2009 listen2010 celebrate2011 deeper2012 fierce2013 sky2014 mystery2015 wild2016 delight 
2017 abundance
2018 behold
2019 happy

... and for 2020 I've selected



Why red?

I'm not entirely sure! (I've always been a "purple" girl.) I hope to discover the whys during this year of "red."


Here's what I've learned so far:

Red is an emotionally intense color, and it has many broad, contradictory meanings --- anger, fear, birth, passion, energy, love, danger, violence, aggression, ambition, determination, confidence, humanity, death... it's complicated!

Red is attention-getting, which is why it's the color of fire trucks and stop signs.

Hester Prynne wore a red letter A on her chest.

Editors use red pencils/ink.

Tiger Woods always wears a red shirt on Sundays.

Red fruits like strawberry, watermelon, tomato are favorites of mine. Here's a list of 273 things in nature that are red.

Ryan Hodnett [CC BY-SA 4.0
(https://creativecommons.org/
licenses/by-sa/4.0)]Who doesn't love a (male) cardinal? (I love the females, too, of course -- see this mama cardinal poem!)

Red letter days are the best days.

When we were expecting our second child, we painted his room red on the bottom and yellow on the top with a cute transportation-themed wallpaper border in between. A few months into his life I read an article that suggested red bedroom walls might increase violence and anger in children, so we promptly repainted his room blue!

January's birthstone garnet is red.

An introvert, I generally stay away from red in clothing, but I've noticed it creeping into my wardrobe more often in recent years.

In Russia, the word "red" means "beautiful."

In Asia, red symbolizes good luck.

In North American stock markets, red means a drop in value.

... so who knows where red will take me this year??

To read about others' selections for their One Little Word, be sure to visit Margaret at Reflections on the Teche for Spiritual Journey Thursday roundup!

The Last Poem for 2019

Hello and Happy Poetry Friday on this, the last Poetry Friday of 2019! Be sure to visit Michelle Kogan for Roundup.

I offer you this poem by Marge Piercy:

The birthday of the world

On the birthday of the worldI begin to contemplatewhat I have done and leftundone, but this yearnot so much rebuilding
of my perennially damagedpsyche, shoring up erodingfriendships, digging outstumps of old resentmentsthat refuse to rot on their own.
No, this year I want to callmyself to task for whatI have done and not donefor peace. How much haveI dared in opposition?
How much have I put
on the line for freedom?

read the rest here

... and this poem, from ARTSPEAK:


The Last Poem

is all knees
and flat feet

it keeps forgetting
the routine

yet it wears a hat:
see me?

it lifts its arms:
love me!

it squinches its eyes,
looks past lens,
   mirror
               stage

dances us
across the page.

- Irene Latham

Happy New Year!!! Here's to lots of love and adventure in 2020. :)

The Butterfly Hours Memoir Project FINAL POST: WINDOW poem

Hello and Happy Poetry Friday! Be sure to visit Buffy's Blog for Roundup.

This is the final entry in my 180-post series! You can check out all the entries here. It's been a bit brutal, and some weeks I wasn't sure I wanted to go on... but I did, and here we are. Hooray!!!

For 2019 I'm running a year-long series on my blog in which I share my responses to the writing assignment prompts found in THE BUTTERLY HOURS by Patty Dann.

I welcome you to join me, if you like! I've divided the prompts by month, and the plan is to respond to 3 (or so) a week. For some of these I may write poems, for others prose. The important thing is to mine my memory. Who knows where this exploration will lead?
For links to the prompts I've written on so far this year, please click on The Butterfly Hours tab above.

This (final!) month's prompts are train, trophy, typewriter, umbrella, Vietnam, war, washing machine, widow, window.

WINDOW



Window
A poem is a sheet of glassTucked between wood frames.Your world will be transformedWhen you peek through the panes.
Lift the sash just a crack,Catch the scented words.Breathe deep the new syllablesThis moment has stirred.
Now find yourself in the glass,trace reflection with a finger –These lines are made to shift and turn,Embrace the ones that linger.
Work it till it sparkles --Even clouded glass can shine.Discover the beauty that happensWhen streak and light entwine.
Take it line by line,Be transparent with your heart.A poem isn’t choosy –sunlight or moonbeam: start.
- Irene Latham

Happy Holidays, and thank you so much for reading.

The Butterfly Hours Memoir Project: WIDOW

For 2019 I'm running a year-long series on my blog in which I share my responses to the writing assignment prompts found in THE BUTTERLY HOURS by Patty Dann.  Hooray, we are coming to the close, which means I have written nearly 180 entries in this project -- proof that "little by little" is how to do this whole writing thing. :)

I welcome you to join me, if you like! I've divided the prompts by month, and the plan is to respond to 3 (or so) a week. For some of these I may write poems, for others prose. The important thing is to mine my memory. Who knows where this exploration will lead?
For links to the prompts I've written on so far this year, please click on The Butterfly Hours tab above.

This (final!) month's prompts are train, trophy, typewriter, umbrella, Vietnam, war, washing machine, widow, window.

<!-- @page { margin: 0.79in } P { margin-bottom: 0.08in } </style> </div></div>--> <div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><b>WIDOW</b></span></span></span></span></span></div><div style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></div><div style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-pHvzceJeuT..." imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-pHvzceJeuT..." width="240" /></a></div><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background: #ffffff;">My experience with widows has been as an adult. The one who provided the first and biggest impact on me was my mother-in-law. When her husband died suddenly at age 59, she was thrust into the widow role instantly and completely. She lived another 25 years, alone, and it seemed to suit her. She loved Dan, and missed him, but she also loved being on her own, making choices just for herself, not having to answer to or consider anyone else. I get it! So she was the first person to show me that even after a spouse dies, life carries on. One can experience a joyful, fulfilling life, even without a partner. These days I meet regularly with a group in which all are widows – except me. In this group I have discovered how differently different people handle widowhood. Regardless of how they experience it, the overwhelming reality is that life goes on, and it can be whatever you want it to be – which is a lesson for all of us, at any time in our lives. I'm grateful to these women for sharing their (rich, full, tender, funny, sometimes-dating) lives with me!</span></span></span></span></span></div><br />

The Butterfly Hours Memoir Project: WASHING MACHINE

<!-- @page { margin: 0.79in } P { margin-bottom: 0.08in } </style> <br />--> <div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">For 2019 I'm running a year-long series on my blog in which I share my responses to the writing assignment prompts found in <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Butterfly-Hour... BUTTERLY HOURS by Patty Dann.</a><br /><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><div style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;"><div style="font-style: normal;"><div style="font-weight: normal;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0.08in;"><br /></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0.08in;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0.08in;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0.08in;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0.08in;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-pbJRbgZiKH..." imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; display: inline !important; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="346" data-original-width="231" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-pbJRbgZiKH..." width="213" /></a>I welcome you to join me, if you like! I've divided the prompts by month, and the plan is to respond to 3 (or so) a week. For some of these I may write poems, for others prose. The important thing is to mine my memory. Who knows where this exploration will lead?</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0.08in;"><br /></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "roboto" , "arial";">For links to the prompts I've written on so far this year, please click on <a href="https://irenelatham.blogspot.com/p/th... Butterfly Hours</a> tab above.</span></span><br /><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "roboto" , "arial";"><br /></span></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-family: "roboto" , "arial";">This (final!) month's prompts are </span><i style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-family: roboto, arial;">train, trophy, typewriter, umbrella, Vietnam, war, washing machine, widow, window.</i></span></span></span></span></span><br /><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><b><br /></b></span></span></span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><b>WASHING MACHINE</b></span></span></span></span></span></div><div style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></div><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-7A8YHFizW6..." imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1065" data-original-width="1600" height="213" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-7A8YHFizW6..." width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">our family -- with Ken II holding Goldie</td></tr></tbody></table><div style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background: #ffffff;">The first thing that comes to my mind when I hear “washing machine” is “dryer.” That's because the first tragedy in my life involved a clothes dryer. We were living in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, and we had a yellow/orange tabby kitty we named Goldie. We all adored Goldie's playfulness and adorable antics. But one day when my mother went to pull the clothes out of the dryer, she realized instantly that something awful had happened. Goldie must have climbed into the dryer, and no one knew. That loss impacted my life in multiple ways, not the least of which is how obsessively I have and always will check the contents of the dryer before turning in on.</span></span></span></span></span></div><br />

The Butterfly Hours Memoir Project: VIETNAM

For 2019 I'm running a year-long series on my blog in which I share my responses to the writing assignment prompts found in THE BUTTERLY HOURS by Patty Dann.

I welcome you to join me, if you like! I've divided the prompts by month, and the plan is to respond to 3 (or so) a week. For some of these I may write poems, for others prose. The important thing is to mine my memory. Who knows where this exploration will lead?
For links to the prompts I've written on so far this year, please click on The Butterfly Hours tab above.

This (final!) month's prompts are train, trophy, typewriter, umbrella, Vietnam, war, washing machine, widow, window.

VIETNAM

This is a prompt (like “typewriter”) that indicates Patty Dann is in the generation just before me. It's not a word that brings up a lot of personal history for me. My grandfather was a WWII vet. My father was born during the years included in the draft, but was not called up. He was an only child, so I've no uncles or any relatives from his side of the family who served. I do know my mother's one brother was career Navy, but I'm not sure where he was during the Vietnam war. Anyhow, my ideas about Vietnam have been largely influenced by the movies and Broadway. Movies like PLATOON and RAMBO (which my father LOVED, and which I remember seeing with him in the theater) introduced me to the brutality of war. 
Later, FORREST GUMP and MISS SAIGON made me feel anger, grief, love for all involved. It's one of those complicated things I'm pretty sure I don't even come close to understanding. And after reading LIES MY TEACHER TOLD ME by James W. Loewen, I realize my confusion is largely related to the (lack of) education I got about Vietnam. Probably the Vietnam-related thing most dear to me THE THINGS THEY CARRIED by Tim O'Brien. I've just found the Bryan Cranston audio version and will be listening to it in the coming days. 
While I do not enjoy violence (and close my eyes during much of PLATOON and RAMBO and any other war movie), I am also utterly fascinated by the emotions of war, how it affects a person. It really brings a person to the heart of what matters most to them, and I think I crave that kind of self-knowledge. Maybe that's why my next middle grade novel is a “war” book – lots there waiting to be discovered...