Irene Latham's Blog, page 58

We Interrupt #OctopusMonth For An Important Message

Wow, we are halfway through #OctopusMonth! I've got a slew of lovely octopus poems to share with you this week, starting tomorrow. Today I want to take a moment to say...

Thanks for being AWESOME!
...and to share some of my adventures from last week, because they were oh so amazing.

After more than a year of planning, it was my pleasure to be a part of a grant in honor of Alabama's Bicentennial which included me sharing my books -- esp. the Alabama-related ones like LEAVING GEE'S BEND, FRESH DELICIOUS (agriculture!) and CAN I TOUCH YOUR HAIR? (civil rights) -- with students in Morgan County, Alabama.

I cannot begin to tell you what an amazing experience this was! Here's an article that tells about the "wax museum" Lacey's Spring jr. high students created based on LEAVING GEE'S BEND. It was one of the best moments of my writing life -- and y'all, I've had some good ones. It makes me tear-y just remembering! I'm so, so grateful.

And here's more Bicentennial news... CAN I TOUCH YOUR HAIR? has been included on the official "Bicentennial Bookshelf." Charles and I are honored and delighted!

I look forward to posting more about my time in Morgan County after #OctopusMonth. :)

On the topic of LOVE, AGNES, I learned a few things last week about reading the book aloud:

1. It's hard to hold a microphone and also flip the pages.
2. It's IMPOSSIBLE to use finger puppets AND hold a microphone and also flip the pages!

see those finger puppets?To solve this problem, April Childers, art-teacher/grant-writer/amazing person held the book for me... But even that wasn't enough!

Fortunately, when I read the book during "Storytime" at yesterday's neighborhood Fall Festival, I figured it out: involve the kids! Duh, right? So I asked for volunteers, and assigned four different kids the four different characters in the book, and when it was that character's turn, that kid had a chance to hold up the finger puppet for all to see. Win-win! And then? The kids wrote postcards. :)

See you here tomorrow with poems from Donna, who blogs at Mainely Write!

"Illuminating Octopod" Art & Poem by Michelle Kogan #OctopusMonth

<!-- @page { margin: 0.79in } P { margin-bottom: 0.08in } </style> <br />--> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-iQ7-hl8Q9O..." imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="192" data-original-width="336" height="182" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-iQ7-hl8Q9O..." width="320" /></a>Hello and Happy Poetry Friday! Be sure to visit Laura at <a href="http://laurasalas.com/blog/">... the World for Kids </a>for Roundup. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">I've been enjoying a lovely few days of school visits in Morgan County, Alabama -- where, yes, I have been able to share AGNES with young readers! I'll also be sharing tomorrow in Sandy Springs, Georgia, so lots of fun going on... including the following octopus poems this week:</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><a href="https://irenelatham.blogspot.com/2018... Enumerated"</a> by Michelle Schaub (our 2nd Michelle of the month!)</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><a href="https://irenelatham.blogspot.com/2018... by Harry Laing (later retitled "Shoctopus")</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><a href="https://irenelatham.blogspot.com/2018... by Matt F. Esenwine (which I thought was about octopus <i>as</i> dessert, but is actually dessert FOR an octopus!)</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">You can find all the poems and links at the <a href="https://padlet.com/irenelathambook/ib... Octopus Month</a> padlet.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">As we continue #OctopusMonth, I am delighted to share with you art and poem by the ever-talented <a href="https://moreart4all.wordpress.com/&qu... Kogan</a> (our 3rd Michelle of the month!):</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-jhLujMdRt4..." imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1304" data-original-width="1600" height="325" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-jhLujMdRt4..." width="400" /></a></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><b><br /></b></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><b>ILLUMINATING OCTOPOD</b></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><i>by Michelle Kogan</i></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;">Octopuses that’s us, that’s I,</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;">amazingly we seem to fly.</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;">Through deep waters way down below,</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;">look at me now, I’m all-aglow!</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;">Bioluminescence that’s me</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;">sparkling like a moonlit sea.</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: #323232;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><i>Stauroteuthis </i></span></span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;">Syrtensis’ my</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;">name, twinkling light as I swim by.</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="_GoBack"></a>I’m “glowing sucker” octopod,</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">An illuminate lighting rod.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">Watch me glow five minutes or so</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">my “blue-green hue” makes quite a show!</div>-------<br />I am kind of in love with that "illuminate lightning rod." All a-glow, indeed! Beautiful, isn't it?<br /><br />Thanks so much for reading!

"Octopodessert" by Matt F. Esenwine

Octopodessert
by Matt F. Esenwine

A few little scallops, two snails, and a shrimp.
Wrap up in seaweed.
           Seal edge with a crimp.

A delicacy that no money can buy!

Serves 8. (After all, it’s an octo-pie.)
-------------
I confess: I knew someone would make a meal of our octopus... turns out it was Matt. And OF COURSE an octopodessert would serve 8! :) 
I myself have never eaten octopus -- calamari, yes. I suspect they have similar tastes and textures? I do know that when I've used Google to search for octopus-related content, quite a lot comes up about recipes and prep tips! 
Out of respect for Agnes, I cruise right past those links.... and shall refrain from any such foodie adventures, at least for the duration of #OctopusMonth!
And now back to Morgan County, Alabama, where I am enjoying visiting with students and teachers. xo

"Octopus" poem by Harry Laing #OctopusMonth

Octopus
by Harry Laing

Shape-shifter
rock lifter
clever drifter
            octopusssssss
master blender
cave defender
what's your gender?
            octopusssssss
big eye winking
always thinking
slowly sinking
            octopusssssss
color-mixer
inky fixer
slinky trickster
       octopusssssss

but not like us
       octopusssssss

------------------

Today's poem appears in one of my favorite anthologies in recent years: ONE MINUTE TILL BEDTIME, poems selected by Kenn Nesbitt, art by Christoph Niemann (Little, Brown & Co., 2016). So many thanks to Harry Laing for giving me permission to print it! Here's more about Harry:

Harry Laing is an Australian poet and comic performer. His first collection of poems for children,  Shoctopus-poems to grip you (for 6-12 yr olds) was published in 2015. ‘ SuperFly :  poems to give you a buzz’  (a picture book also for 6-12 yr olds), is due out from Ford Street next year. Harry does lots of poetry workshops in schools and loves performing his poems. He lives on 115 acres in New South Wales along with the wombats and kangaroos. Check out his giant purple Shoctopus on YouTube. 


Also, Harry told me that ‘Octopus’ in OMTB came before he decided on 'Shoctopus’! Pretty brilliant change, don't you think?! Octopuses everywhere are impressed. :)

"Octopus, Enumerated" poem by Michelle Schaub #OctopusMonth

Octo pus, Enumerated by Michelle Schaub
One for craggy crevices.Oh that sneaky octopus! Don't you love the octo-structure of Michelle's poem? I do! 
Michelle and I met a couple of years ago at Poetry Camp (thanks to Janet Wong, Sylvia Vardell and the good folks at WWU!). In addition to octo-love, we've discovered we have a few other things in common: 1. we both wrote collections of poems set at the farmers' market; 2. we both have poetry collections forthcoming from Charlesbridge; 3. we share an illustrator: Amy Huntington! Amy illustrated Michelle's FRESH-PICKED POETRY: A Day at the Farmers' Market and is working on my NINE: A Book of Nonets. Fun!

Happy World Octopus Day! #OctopusMonth

Isn't it fitting that October 8 should be World Octopus Day? Agnes and I kind of love it. So today offer you a hodgepodge of octo-fun!

First, today at the Lerner blog, you can find Agnes exchanging postcards with other members of the LOVE, AGNES team: moi (!), editor Carol Hinz and illustrator Thea Baker.

Also today we will visit the post office, where we will ship out review copies and one finished copy to those folks who read all the way to the end of my most recent Irene's Adventures in Writing newsletter. That's right: at the very end there was a p.s. and a reward for those most faithful readers! If you missed it, you can read it here. And if you don't yet subscribe to the newsletter, please do! I'll be sending out another issue with its own surprises come January. :)

In other octopus news, we had our first event of the Great Southeastern Octopus Tour at McWane Center in Birmingham. My husband came along to take pictures.
at the postcard craft table

young writer writing about sharks!
(McWane doesn't currently
have an octopus in its collection.) Reading in a corner of the Itty Bitty Magic City,
where some young citizens enjoyed
sharing octopus-joy!
"Hey Crabby Crab... we all have our eyes on you!"Also, I wanted to share about HOW TO BE A GOOD CREATURE by Sy Montgomery. Chapter 9 features an octopus named Octavia! (More on how to name an octopus coming later this week. :)



Finally, for a fun poem and some adorable octopus art, be sure to visit a penny and her jots to read "Octopus Olive at the Monster Hop" by Buffy Silverman! More poems and art coming this week. Thanks so much for joining the celebration!

Meet Squirtensia and "recognition," an octopus poem by Tabatha Yeatts for #OctopusMonth

Hello and Happy Poetry Friday! Be sure to visit Tabatha at The Opposite of Indifference for Roundup... and stick around here to experience some of Tabatha's magic!

So far Agnes and I have been having a lovely time celebrating Octopus Month! Please don't miss earlier posts this week:

"Octopus" by Amy Ludwig VanDerwater
The Great Southeastern Octopus Tour
"Thirty-two Tentacles" by Michele Krueger (and learn how octopuses don't actually have tentacles...)

and Octopus Month Padlet, where I'll be rounding up various octopus links all month long.

Today Tabatha is in the house... er, ocean? Anyhow, she's here! And this is her artsy octopus creation:

Mademoiselle Squirtensia ("Squirty" for short)

Here's Tabatha to introduce her properly:

"I looove beautiful paper! So I raided my stash to make an octopus collage and voilà, Mademoiselle Squirtensia. I think her head was actually made from a photo of a pincushion! Some of her limbs are from images of quilts. She is a softie :-)"


... and here's Tabatha on how she came to write the following poem: 

"I was inspired by reading that octopi can always tell which way is up & they are able to sense octopus skin, so their suction cups don't stick to their own arms."

Enjoy!


recognitionby Tabatha Yeatts
in an octopus world, gravity holds you like a hammock,swaying upright, but nothing keeps your feet on the ground
you can feel your many arms stretch wide, taste your worldwith delicate hands that can dance around each other
without ever tangling, never adhering, neversinking your strideby mistaking friend for foe. ------------
Don't you just love that first phrase "in an octopus world"? I do, I do! And lo, a "mistake" in the last line... that's our IMPERFECT editor, all right. :) Thank you, Tabatha and Squirty for joining the  LOVE, AGNES celebration! I'm excited for next week's lineup!

"Thirty-Two Tentacles" poem by Michele Krueger for #OctopusMonth

Thirty-Two Tentacles*by Michele Krueger
An octopus, almost octogenarian,was by profession,a fish school librarian.
But when her daughtergave birth to quadruplets,she packed up and leftto begin knitting bootlets.
She knitted so swiftlysparks flew all around her.She quite inadvertentlyfried a poor flounder!
Thirty-two tentaclesneeding protectiontickled the talentsof Grandma’s affection.
She quickly completedher motherly duties, and gave to her grandkids*A word about "tentacles": I learned in my research that octopuses don't actually have tentacles -- only arms. (Actually some scientists have suggested 2 legs and 6 arms!) Turns out arms have suckers all along them, and tentacles only have suckers on the end... so no tentacles! But because Michele's poem is fantastical -- and one of the things we all love about poetry is "no rules! no rules!" -- she opted to leave in the tentacles.
This poem also fits in well with our Spiritual Journey Thursday theme of "humor." Be sure to visit Jan at bookseedstudio for more posts about humor! 
As for me & humor, well, it's fitting that this post is coming during #OctopusMonth... because LOVE, AGNES is my first "funny" book. Here is an image of a Tweet from Thea Baker, who decided to illustrate this book -- proof! :)
I know I need humor in my life. I mean, life is just better, when one can find the humor in it, and not take things so seriously (as is my tendency). Fortunately I live with a funny man who also calls me "the fun girl in the house." (Yes, I am the only girl in the house! :) The point is he appreciates my humor, and he helps me so much to lighten up.
Something that helped me recently in terms of humor was listening to author Jeff Anderson talk about humor in his books. He opened by asking us, the audience, what we thought was funny. Hands went up for various topics, and no one topic caused everyone to raise their hands. 
#octopuslove from Jan!Probably this is obvious to everyone else, but it just struck me: humor is individual. What one person thinks is funny, is not necessarily funny to someone else. And for some reason that felt like a revelation and freed me in a way... just like books or food or art, whatever we think is funny is just right, because it's funny to US. 
Here it is put another way: there's nothing wrong if we don't find something funny that others find funny. We're all different. And when we do find someone who can share a funny moment with us? It's really magical, isn't it? It's a way of connecting that's precious and truly feeds the soul and renews one's faith. 
Thank you, Jan, for inviting us to reflect on this! And for being a funny, inspiring, ever-thoughtful friend. xo

The Great Southeastern Octopus Tour #OctopusMonth

First stop: McWane Science Center in Birmingham! Did you know that on the lower level they have "World of Water" Aquariums? Yep. Hope to see you there. xo

"Octopus" poem by Amy Ludwig VanDerwater #OctopusMonth

Octopus
by Amy Ludwig VanDerwater

Octopus, you have eight limbs.
Octopus, you have three hearts.
Octopus, compared with me
you seem to have some extra parts.
But eight limbs swim you through the sea.
Eight limbs help you catch your prey.
Three hearts pump your blue blue blood
out to the gills and then away.

Octopus, I have four limbs.
I do not have a beak like you.
I cannot squirt black ink and hide
or camouflage the way you do.
Octopus, I love to read
about your life out in the wild.
Let's trade places just today.
I'll be an octopus.
You be a child.
-------------------
Don't you love this?! Classic AmyLV with that gentle voice and that ahhhh ending... Read Amy's post about this poem at The Poem Farm. Thank you, Amy! xo