Irene Latham's Blog, page 64

A Horse-y Poetry Friday

wee me with a (wee) miniature horse
Cinnamon, and foal Sugar (behind)Hello and Happy Poetry Friday! Be sure to visit Rebecca at Sloth Reads for Roundup.

Around these parts, spring has quickly morphed into blazing summer. It's all good, though! We've enjoyed several sightings of your nearest neighbors -- a pair of bald eagles! I've been writing, of course... and working on last-call edits for two forthcoming picture books. (Click to see a sneak peek of those covers!) I've also been spending as much time with our son as possible -- he's a graduating high school senior, and the day after graduation he will leave to work as a camp counselor for the summer: 
BOOM! Empty nest! 
No, I am not ready. Super excited for him and all that awaits, but wow. This raising-kids thing went by terribly fast! Sigh. Good thing I've got books (and an awfully sweet husband) to keep me company. 
With that in mind, today I'd like to share a book I checked out from the library and then decided to purchase, because I love it so much: THE HORSE'S HAIKU by Michael J. Rosen, illustrated by Stan Fellows, brought to us by Candlewick Press.
I love horses. I love books about horses. And this one is certainly a celebration of our equine friends. So many of my most favorite moments of horse-watching are recorded here:
one foal nods, slicingthe fog shared breaths - the marenods in agreement
I have LOVED watching horses speak to one another on cold fog-breathy mornings! It feels so intimate, so reverential.
And how 'bout this one, about the magic of a horse emerging from a dust roll:
wriggling in the dirt,dust clouds of kicking hooves, then --poof! -- horse standing there
There are haiku about shadows and hoofprints and that lip-flutter way horses take a treat from your palm. About water dribbling from the horse's mouth and those pesky horseflies.
One of my favorite spreads is about the horse's eye: art by Stan Fellows

Even horse-chores are made beautiful, as in this one about cleaning a horse's hooves:
front leg half-foldedhorse's hoof rests in your palmweightless as prayer
And what about that moment during a gallop (or jump) when all for hooves are in the air at once?
time, too, must stretch asrear hooves launch from earth.. and thenfront hooves ground again

The final one I'd like to share is about that relationship between horse and rider:
right food slid in place,heels pressed down in both stirrups-trust is your seat belt
This is the perfect book for that horse-loving person in your life. I've actually written quite a lot of poems about horses and horse-love, so I thought I'd use this opportunity to share a couple with you today:
first, one from childhood:

Man O'War
See his action, see him runSuch a beauty when he's wonWhipping mane, flowing tailHis coat like a rusty nailWinning by one hundred lengthsEveryone knows he has no kinksSuch a wonderful horse was heThere really was no race to seeTwenty races out of twenty-oneWhat a sight to see him run!
- Irene Dykes (long before I was Latham)

Next, an unpublished poem (pic is from a trip to Chincoteague Island, which you can read about here)




Anatomy of a Horse
mane for braidinghooves for painting
whisker-tipped lipsfor teasing carrotsfrom your fingertips
tail for swishingnose for nuzzling
weather-vane earsfor broadcastingeach mood and feeling
eyes for admiringneck for hugging
basketball-sized heartfor a long lifeof loving you
- Irene Latham
There's also a "horse" poem in CAN I TOUCH YOUR HAIR? Horseback Riding
I don't know how to explainto Charles how I feel about horseswhen he shuffles so fastfrom one subject to the next.
Finally I blurt, sometimes I just needa break from people.
He surprises me and shuts up right away,so I tell him about the sweet scentof hay and saddle soap,how my stomach somersaults
when Honey surges from trot to canter,and how the wind parts my hairwhen I lean into her neckwhispering, faster, faster.
When I want Honey to slow down,all I have to dois give the reins a gentle tug,and soon we are back to clop-clopping.
Honey and I understand each otherwithout any words at all.
- Irene Latham
Have YOU written a horse poem? If so, I'd love to read it!

PEN World Voices Festival, Or In Which I Meet Sean Qualls & Selina Alko

There are many joyous moments for a writer in the picture book creation process:
1. when you discuss possible illustrators with the editor 
2. when you find out which illustrator actually got the job
3. when you see the first sketches
4. when you see the final art
5. when you meet the illustrator(s)!
Actually, #5 has only happened to me once so far -- this past April at PEN World Voices Festival in Brooklyn, where Charles Waters and I joined Sean Qualls and Selina Alko for a "poetry and collage" workshop. Thank you, PEN folks for having us!
Also present was our editor and mother o' the book Carol Hinz... and a new friend: photo-illustrator Shelley Rotner. I would love to collaborate with Shelley at some point! Meanwhile, she was kind enough to take these shots of Team CITYH (CAN I TOUCH YOUR HAIR?):

having artsy-fun:
Sean Qualls, Selina Alko,
Charles Waters, Irene Latham,
Carol Hinz
Selina Alko displaying samples
of the craft
Sean Qualls creating skin-tone paint

yes, we can be serious, too. :)and finally, a collage of the collage:

Pretty awesome, right? 
I do hope at some point to meet some of my other co-creators: Stephanie Graegin, illustrator of DON'T FEED THE BOY; Anna Wadham, illustrator of both DEAR WANDERING WILDEBEEST and WHEN THE SUN SHINES ON ANTARCTICA; Mique Moriuchi, illustrator of FRESH DELICIOUS; Thea Baker, illustrator of forthcoming LOVE, AGNES (October 2018); John Holyfield, illustrator of forthcoming MEET MISS FANCY (January 2019).

Spring in New York City

I'm still playing catch-up here at Live Your Poem, and today I'm excited to share about the school visits Charles Waters and I had last month in Manhattan.

the superfun SPONGEBOB stageI was so happy Paul was able to join me on this trip -- he and I have a long history of enjoying New York City together! This time we stayed at Mansfield Hotel (near the library), thanks to a special deal from Travelzoo. We loved it! It was quiet and in such a convenient location. Unfortunately Paul got sick on our trip... and it was a bit colder than we would have liked... but we still had fun. Part of that fun included our younger sons who came in mid-week (one of whom also got sick, unfortunately)... of course we had to see SPONGEBOB SQUAREPANTS on Broadway. :) We also saw THE PLAY THAT GOES WRONG, which had us laughing pretty much start to finish.

Other fun stops included the Empire State Building first thing in the morning -- which was so, so lovely and inspiring! -- and a carriage ride around Central Park. We joined Charles at Champs Diner, one of his favorite all-vegan restaurants and met him for a walk along the High Line and also a peek inside the Langston Hughes house, now home of i, too arts collective.  One morning when it was raining I got several new book ideas at National Geographic Encounter: Ocean Odyssey. Good times!

Our first school visit was another picturesque location... PS 276 Battery Park School. Those kids enjoy a view of Lady Liberty outside the library window every single day! Basia Tov and the kids made us feel so very welcome... and many of them showed up later in the week for our big shin-dig at Poets House. (more on this next post!)
Irene Latham, Basia Tov, Charles Waters  Next we visited PS 15 in the Red Hook neighborhood of Brooklyn, thanks to Michele Wiseman of Meet the Writers, where we met another group of of great kids and educators! We loved working with Michele and appreciate so much the work she does to bring authors into schools. Both Charles and I believe we'd have gotten to writing a lot sooner if we'd been able to meet an author when we were going to school. Here we are in the library:
S. Matz, Charles Waters,
 Irene Latham, Michele WisemanOur final school visit was arranged through Greenlight Bookstore in Brooklyn: the Co-op School: Joyful Learning in Brooklyn. We loved seeing all the art on the walls at this school, and the kids asked some fabulous questions. What fun! Thanks to all involved at all these schools.

I'll leave you with a final picture:

Two Grateful Poets

Identity Poem after THE CREATIVITY PROJECT, edited by Colby Sharp

<!-- @page { margin: 0.79in } P { margin-bottom: 0.08in } </style> <br />--> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Op4gAciH8i..." imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1132" data-original-width="750" height="200" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Op4gAciH8i..." width="132" /></a></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: left;">Hello and Happy Poetry Friday! Be sure to visit Jama at <a href="https://jamarattigan.com/">Ja... Alphabet Soup</a> for what's sure to be a delicious Roundup!</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: left;"> I'm in this week with a look at <a href="https://www.mrcolbysharp.com/creativi... CREATIVITY PROJECT, edited by Colby Sharp</a>. </div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: left;">If you haven't seen it yet, it's a book that's kind of like an inspiration game... one children's book writer or illustrator sending a prompt to another children's book writer or illustrator. I was particularly drawn to the illustrative parts. In fact, probably </div><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-RI_k-0w7Gq..." imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-RI_k-0w7Gq..." width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Lisa Brown's response</td></tr></tbody></table> my most favorite response is by <a href="http://www.americanchickens.com/"... Brown</a> to this prompt by <a href="http://laurelsnyder.com/">Laurel Snyder</a>:<br /><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><i>“Try to think of an abstract idea. For instance, you might choose “joy” or “hunger” or “stupidity.” Now imagine that abstraction as a character It can look like a person, an animal, or a creature of your own invention. Once you've got the character in your head, set it in motion. Make it DO something. “Joy” might ride a bicycle “Hunger” might go to the movies. “Stupidity” might dig a hole Tell me the story of what happens.</i></div><div style="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://3.bp.blogspot.com/-IgEUyh-lu9..." imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-IgEUyh-lu9..." width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Javaka Steptoe's response</td></tr></tbody></table><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">Another one I loved was also visual -- this one by <a href="http://www.javaka.com/">Javaka Steptoe</a> in response to this prompt by <a href="http://www.katyeh.com/DEFAULT.html&qu... Yeh</a>:</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><i>“You have a brand new audio translation app on your phone. Just as you click on it for the first time, your dog starts barking. And words begin to appear on the screen...</i></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">The book also includes prompts in the back, though one could use any of the prompts (or responses) to generate new work. Here are a few examples of some of my favorite prompts included:</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><a href="http://www.margaritaengle.com/"&... Engle</a>:</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><i>hummingbird frenzy</i></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><i>each whir of wings helps me feel</i></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><i>earthbound and dazzled</i></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><a href="http://www.gracelin.com/">Grace Lin:</a></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><i>You have just met a girl named Hanrui. In Chinese, her name means “a bud just ready to bloom.”</i></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">*<a href="https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poet... Shihab Nye</a>:</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><i>Write a list of ten things you are NOT (not an astronaut, a perfectionist, a wool spinner, a butterfly, a name-caller). Then pick your favorite lines and develop, or embellish, them, adding metaphors, more description, whatever you like.</i></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">*Because I love "identity" writing prompts -- and am constantly looking for new ones since working with readers of <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Can-Touch-Your... I TOUCH YOUR HAIR?</a> -- this is the one I decided to tackle right away!</div><br /><br /><b>Here's my quick list of <i>nots</i>:</b><br /><style type="text/css"> <!-- @page { margin: 0.79in } P { margin-bottom: 0.08in } </style> <br />--> <div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">not a veterinarian</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">not a complainer</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">not an athlete</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">not a procrastinator</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">not the mother of a daughter</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">not a party person</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">not a tv-watcher</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">not a camper</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">not a church-goer</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">not a social-media junkie</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">not a coffee drinker</div><br /><br /><b>And here's my poem:</b><br /><b><br /></b><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-it1UNsF2yv..." imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1138" height="400" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-it1UNsF2yv..." width="283" /></a></div><b><br /></b><b><br /></b><br /><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://4.bp.blogspot.com/-FAzUDr4QPS..." imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="400" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-FAzUDr4QPS..." width="300" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">scrapbook page from our tour<br />of an olive tree farm<br />in Napa Valley (2006)</td></tr></tbody></table><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><b>My Name is Peace</b></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">No coffee for me;</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">I drink tea.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">Not bubbly or bouncy;</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">I like to sit quietly.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">No time for complaining –</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">I find it draining.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">No procrastinating –</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">what's the point of waiting?</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">Not fragile or feathery; </div><style type="text/css"> <!-- @page { margin: 0.79in } P { margin-bottom: 0.08in } </style> <br />--> <div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">more like a knotted olive tree.</div><br /><i>- Irene Latham</i><br /><i><br /></i>Some notes about the poem: "Irene" actually means peace -- and of course the olive tree is a symbol of peace.<br />I struggled a while with a descriptor for the olive tree, and when I found "knotted" it felt like a miracle... another "not" for the poem!<br />It's interesting to me that I ended up starting my poem with the last item on my list. It makes me wonder what my poem might have been if I'd written 20 or 30 things on my list instead... how deep might I have gone into my identity? Something to try another day!<br /><br />Won't you give it a try as well?

Word of South Festival (Tallahassee, FL)

Irene Latham, Jan Annino, Laura FreemanLast month it was my honor to be invited as a featured artist at Tallahassee's Word of South literary and music festival held at Cascades Park.

What a beautiful venue! And what a well-run event! I wouldn't have been there if not for dear poet-friend Jan Annino's recommendation to the committee... thank you, Jan! It was so lovely to see you. :)

Cascades Park (Tallahassee, FL)The weather was perfect, and I wish I could have spent more time enjoying the city -- both my parents graduated from FSU -- in fact, it's where they met. (In a home economics class where the instructor asked a show of hands for people wanting big families... by the time the instructor got to "8 or more kids" my parents-to-be were the only students still holding their hands up. They went on to have five of us!)

The only hiccup of my trip was some car trouble, which turned out to be low oil. While I was trying to find a car shop, I noticed the I Museum of Florida History near by. I'd really like to check out at some point... next time!


me and my littlest sis!The trip was especially lovely because it gave me an excuse to visit with my mother and her family. Because my adopted siblings are all school age, I made sure include in my plans a visit to their classrooms at Aucilla Christian Academy. I shared poems by me and others in celebration of National Poetry Month. Fun!

Mama's hair was wild!
(Laura gave out all kinds
of fun hair clips to readers.)At the festival I was paired with Laura Freeman, author-illustrator of NATALIE'S HAIR WAS WILD. It's an adorable picture book, and Laura was simply lovely to work with! After our presentation we signed a bunch of books that were purchased by the Early Learning Coalition and gifted to attendees. That's right: kids got free books! Pretty awesome, right? I signed copies of FRESH DELICIOUS and CAN I TOUCH YOUR HAIR? The day was made even better because my mom and her family were in the audience. That doesn't happen all that often, so it was lovely to share the day with them.

I Love Mississippi.

Dav Pilkey said it was
a bookmark contest that
first made him think he
could be a successful
illustrator.Now that it's May and I can breathe again, I'm backtracking to share some of the fabulous April happenings.

First up, Fay B. Kaigler Children's Book Festival at University of Southern Mississippi in Hattiesburg, MS.

I adore this festival! Karen Rowell and Ellen Ruffin and the whole team outdo themselves every single year.

This year it featured Dav Pilkey receiving the Medallion, which was so much fun! Librarians were running all around campus in their superhero capes. :) I particularly enjoyed learning about Dav's challenges as a student. I was also wow-ed by
me and Salina YoonSalina Yoon, with whom I happily snapped this selfie in the hallway before her amazing talk. :)

Salina shared about being a "recovering introvert" which had us all laughing. Then she shared how she was a quiet child, much like the Dennis character (who is a mime) in BE A FRIEND.

Salina put on her mime hat and gloves to read the story for us! Magic, I say. Salina also shared her spreadsheets on submissions and acceptances, and wow, was that inspiring! One reason Salina
Storyteller Award winner
Alabamian Wanda Johnson
telling us her 6 favorite words:
"Let me tell you a story."has so many books is because she has an amazing work ethic. And how creative are her book projects?! She cites toys as a big inspiration for her work. I loved when she shared about how writing picture books was kind of a way to reinvent herself, after a year with the novelty books weren't selling. What a lucky development for children and readers everywhere!

Another thing I loved was hearing old friend and fellow Alabamian (and USM alum!) Ash Parson talk about tropes and archetypes. Love that lady! And it was so much fun to meet and present with new friend Leah Henderson, author of the middle grade novel ONE SHADOW ON THE WALL which happens to be the only current novel set in Senegal.

me and Leah HendersonLeah and I have so much in common! We shared with attendees our experiences about writing across culture and gave tips on how to proceed, should one feel called to write a story not from one's experiences. It's not for the faint of heart! However... the most important thing any of can do is follow our hearts as we write. For some of us that may mean proceeding into dangerous territory. It helps to meet fellow travelers, I can tell you that!

One of the highlights for me was sharing a table with a bunch of Mississippi librarians who live and work outside Memphis, TN. These ladies were THE BEST! I'm so grateful. I hope to meet up with them again when I travel with a dear friend for a research trip to Graceland later this year.

So much goodness! I'm excited to be traveling again to Mississippi with Charles Waters in August to share CAN I TOUCH YOUR HAIR? at Mississippi Book Festival (Jackson, MS).

Hooray for us! And for Mississippi!

Celebrating IMPERFECT with Tabatha Yeatts

Hello and Happy Poetry Friday! HOORAY IT'S MAY! Be sure to visit Linda at Write Time for Roundup.

I am away from my desk, but I wanted to pop in a share a bit about IMPERFECT: Poems about Mistakes: an Anthology for Middle Schoolers, edited by Tabatha Yeatts.

I love the theme of this anthology, and it makes me so happy to see so many Poetry Friday friends' poems included! Could there be a better opener than Ruth's "Syllabus for Eighth Grade"?? I am honored that two poems I wrote for Scholastic were selected for inclusion: "Titanic Remember April 16, 1912" and "Anaconda Surprise." Nice to see these reach a new readership! More importantly, the book contains all kinds of wonderful poems about making mistakes... and in a world where images are photoshopped and Instagram and Twitter are filled with all the seemingly-perfect moments of life (yet none of the rest), it can feel awfully lonely to be walking around in your human skin... we NEED these reminders that we aren't perfect, that no one is, and that's what makes us beautiful.

Tabatha YeattsSpeaking of beautiful, Tabatha happens to be one of my favorite people in the universe. I'm so grateful the universe brought us together! And so it is with great pleasure that I welcome Tab to Live Your Poem to answer a few questions about this new beautiful anthology.

Welcome, Tabatha!

The delicious:
There's been a lot of delicious along the way...from the excitement and enthusiasm of the IMPERFECT poets who really believed in this project from day one to the way that Vivien and I "clicked" with our ideas for the visuals. My family and the IMPERFECT Selection Committee were incredibly helpful. I think that giving so much thought to how to help young people deal with their mistakes has been a growing experience for me too. I feel like our acceptance of ourselves as fallible creatures leads to generosity, both for ourselves and others. Once we really forgive ourselves for our mistakes, can opening your heart to others be far behind?

The difficult:
The unexpected:
The difficult and unexpected have a bit of overlap because I was generally surprised by how difficult some aspects were! For instance, I expected selecting poems to be hard, but I didn't think about the layout. The person doing the formatting was in a very different time zone and there was a lot of back-and-forth to get it right.

wee reader Tab!Anything else:
As a child, I did NOT want to make mistakes. I wanted to do everything right the first time.I think being a writer helped me so much with accepting making mistakes. When you write, you really have to understand that your first draft is just that -- a draft. You expect that it's not going to be perfect and you will have to fix it up. It's the same for people who are writing music or putting on plays. You rehearse -- you don't just go out and perform without working out the kinks. You expect to start out making mistakes and working through them. It's the same with scientists and inventors. You try something, then you see where you need to change it, and try again.Once you have accepted that, it's easier to accept fallibility in other ways.

Last bit: The Team Imperfect blog has "all things imperfect" on it -- please check it out! 

Rituals for the Non-Religious

paper butterfliesFor Spiritual Journey Thursday we are gathering at Violet Nesdoly's blog to talk about how we celebrate special days.

I really love this topic because it has been an important consideration during our long years of parenting without being church-goers.

A regular religious practice has so much built-in ritual (as I recall from my Episcopal upbringing), so when a family chooses not to participate in a church community, the responsibility for creating ritual falls to the parents.


Christmas tree quiltIt was so important to me to provide rituals for our children! These included daily rituals like reading together and family dinner, and holiday rituals like fishing on Easter and going to the Christmas tree farm to cut a tree and waking the birthday boy on his birthday by singing the birthday song and holding a lit candle stuck in his favorite breakfast snack. My heart always swells when any of our boys recall with fondness any of these special things.

These days, as the empty nest looms, Paul and I are more focused on  the rituals that are just ours. We've had a weekly date night for the past 28 years. These days we eat lunch together almost every day. We walk our country road. We have a Saturday lunch spot and a Sunday afternoon nap-date. These feed me, and our relationship.

sky/trees reflected in the lakeAnd of course I have my personal daily rituals as well -- I have reading/devotionals each morning. Meditation. I drink my veggie juice. A couple of hours writing. Cello. Cooking. Reading. All of these are essential parts of my spiritual life. These things help me feel connected to the world,  and to a higher power. They help keep me actively present in my life, moment by moment, living my poem.

BEHOLD: Bald Eagles

photo courtesy of National GeographicSpring has arrived in central Alabama! For the past two weeks we have been enjoying our supper outdoors, on a deck overlooking the lake.

The water, the spring air, the green-green trees are all so very peaceful! And in the sky above the lake, eagles. Bald eagles! Bald eagles courting. So the birds were whistling, diving, circling... beautiful!

 SO beautiful and miraculous that it made my throat get tight with gratitude. And this thought: this beauty has been here all along. While we were raising kids in the suburbs, no eagles in sight, the eagles were here. I don't know, but that thought just got me. Why did it take us so long?! But that's not the thing to dwell on, is it?

Easter 2018
(before everything turned green)The eagles were there last night for supper, too. I think they may be our nearest neighbors. :) We are so grateful to now be able to walk out our back door and witness such magnificence.

We've also got a Bird Show at the feeders outside our bedroom window each morning! I had to get out the bird field guide to help us identify them all. :) I am loving it. Very fitting for this 2018, Year of the Bird -- and for my 2018 One Little Word BEHOLD.

ARTSPEAK! Harlem Renaissance poem "The Last Poem"

Welcome to day #30 of 2018 ARTSPEAK!, in which I am focusing on art and artists from the Harlem Renaissance. I cannot believe this is the final poem of the series... whew!Before we get to today's poem, please be sure and visit Doraine at Dori Reads to read the final line of our Progressive Poem! Our little seed has sure come a long way.
Today I'm concluding my Harlem Renaissance poetry project with a look at photographer James Van Der Zee. James started fooling around with a camera at age fourteen, and he went on to become the most famous portrait photographer in Harlem. He was known for his portraits of African American New Yorkers -- both prominent people and "regular" people. Read more about James here.

Here are the poems in the series so far:"Hazel Scott at the Piano" by James Van Der Zee
"She" after Portrait with Flowers by William Johnson
"Poems Come Lately" after Still Life with Flowers and Chair by William Johnson
"Papa with a Pipe" after Self-Portrait with Pipe by William Johnson
"A Song for Old Glory" after Lift Thy Voice and Sing by William Johnson
"Midnight Party" after Harbor Under the Midnight Sun by William Johnson
"Summersong" after Children at the Ice Cream Stand by William Johnson
"Trio" after Art Class by William Johnson"To a Water Boy" after The Water Boy by Meta Warrick Fuller
"Storytime" after Storytime by Meta Warrick Fuller
"Sorrow" after Sorrow by Meta Warrick Fuller"My John Henry" after When John Henry Was a Baby by Palmer Hayden"Night Music" after Untitled by Palmer Hayden"A (Sub)way of Looking" after The Subway, 1930 by Palmer Hayden"Girl to Mama" after Madonna at the Stoop by Palmer Hayden"For Love of the Game" after Checkers Game by Palmer Hayden"The Birthday Birds of Bonaventure Island" after Birds of Isle de Bonaventure by Palmer Hayden"Boat Dock, Early Evening" after Boats at the Dock by Palmer Hayden"Prayer for the Berry Pickers" after Berry Pickers by Palmer Hayden"Sometimes Books Are the Only Playground I Need" after Among Them is a Girl Reading by Palmer Hayden"Measurements" after Octoroon Girl by Archibald Motley"Barbeque" after Barbecue by Archibald Motley"American Idyll, 1934" after An Idyll of the Deep South by Aaron Douglas"The Toiler" after The Toiler by Aaron Douglas"Let There Be Poetry" after The Creation by Aaron Douglas"Boy with Plane" after Boy with Plane by Aaron Douglas"To a Dancer" after Sahdji (Tribal Women) by Aaron Douglas"For the Builders" after Building More Stately Mansions by Aaron Douglas"This Poem is a Dream" after Aspiration by Aaron Douglas
Today's piece is Dancing Girls. I love the expressions on these girls faces -- so different from one another! I started out writing a variation of "Five Little Monkeys" but it just wasn't popping. Then I started thinking about how several of this year's poems have been ars poetica (about poetry), and I realized this was the last poem, and started thinking about how the dancers might represent the last poem, and voila!
The Last Poem
is all kneesand flat feet
it keeps forgettingthe routine
yet it wears a hat:see me!
it lifts its arms:love me!
it closes its eyes,looks past lens,              mirror                  stage
dances us across the page <!-- @page { margin: 0.79in } P { margin-bottom: 0.08in } </style> <br /><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></div><i>- Irene Latham</i><br /><br /></div><iframe allow="autoplay" frameborder="no" height="166" scrolling="no" src="https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=..." width="100%"></iframe>