Irene Latham's Blog, page 70

Poems for President's Day

Hello and Happy Poetry Friday! Be sure to visit Jone at Check it Out for Roundup.

Yesterday I shared the Michigan report, about last week's school visits in Grand Rapid's Michigan. Today I want to introduce you to a special student I met at Wealthy Elementary -- Skyler T.

Skyler presented Charles and I with hand-written copies of her poem "If I Were the President."
Skyler T. and me
It takes so much bravery to write something in the first place, but to SHARE it? With an author visiting your school? THAT takes moxie! Go, Skyler! I'm grateful to have permission to share her work with all of you. Thank you, Skyler and Principal Carlye Allen and Skyler's mom. :)

No matter how you feel about our current president -- or any of our former presidents -- haven't we all imagined at least once, what WE would do if WE were the president? Here's Skyler's poem, just in time for President's Day. Enjoy!

If I were the president
By Skyler T

If I were the president I would be so happy,
And when I travel to the white house guess what I would do,
I'd take a swim at the pool,
Then would take a shot at the bowling ally,
Next I would grow a tree of 100 dollar bills,
After that I would build a fountain for people to throw coins in,
and after dark I would colect all of that money,
Then I would have a sleep over with all of my friends,
we would jump on my bed,
untill we were dead!
----------------

Isn't that joy-filled and imaginative?! And, as it happens with poetry, Skyler's poem inspired me to write a poem:

Jumping on the Bed at the White House- for Skyler T.
As my arms fly upand my sister squeals,I imagine the jumperswho've jumped here before:
wiggly Tad Lincolnand FDR's terrier Fala;the Bush twins,and the Obama girls.
As we leapand laugh and twirl,it's as if there is no war –
no sadness, no death.Just me and my sisterin a soft-sheeted world.
- Irene Latham------------------------
Jumping on the bed at the White House... I am IN. As tragedies like the Broward County school shooting unfold around us, we need jumping-on-the-bed moments more than ever. My deepest sympathies to these families, and all of us, as we grieve. xo

The Michigan Report

Last week Charles and I had such a great time in snowy Michigan! Here's the welcome sign that made us feel... welcome!

Thanks to Charles for braving the weather to take the pictures. And thanks to East Grand Rapids Middle School for sharing the days with us. I loved meeting these eager educators and students! Big thanks to Principal Anthony Morey and teacher-poet Kim Doele for doing all the behind-the-scenes-work... SO much goes into an author visit. I'm always touched to be in the presence of those who are willing to do this work for the kids. That's what it's about. That's why we do this.

Here are a few of the many stand-out moments:

1. Driving down neighborhood streets on snowy pre-dawn days with blue-lit sky and trees arching over Lake Dr... for an Alabama gal, it was magical! I was enchanted by the snow pretty much the entire trip -- until I thought it might interfere with me getting home! Charles was kind enough to brush our car down each (cold!) morning, and now I've got snow-driving experience. :)

One of the many gingerbread houses we passed!
2. Presenting with Charles! After all our hard work creating the presentation, finally, we were able to share it with students. 6 times. In one day.

3. Meeting Gary D. Schmidt. I am a HUGE fan of Gary's work -- and I knew he lived near Grand Rapids. So, imagine my delight when Kim was able to set up a supper for us! We had a great time talking books and words and LIFE at a neat restaurant on (frozen) Lake Reeds called Rose's. Plus Gary signed my copy of OKAY FOR NOW, which happens to be my favorite of his novels. Irene Latham, Gary D. Schmidt,
Kim Doele, Charles Waters


4. The analogies workshop with students, in which I introduced the Private Eye method using a jeweler's loupe. We wrote poems about the moon and our palms and lions... fun to hear these students' amazing ideas and images.
5. Sharing LEAVING GEE'S BEND with a special group of readers... they asked some really thoughtful questions!

6. The diversity group. Nothing I type here will do justice to our discussion with these students! So many good hearts, so many amazing poems! I was filled with hope after all the sharing in that room. We will be posting responses to our CAN I TOUCH YOUR HAIR? Gallery very soon! In the sharing circle...
student with "Talking Stick" reading
her poem while we all listened.
7. Presenting with Charles in front of the 811 (poetry!) section at the Wealthy Elementary Library. So many good titles!! And what great kids... I will introduce you to a special student tomorrow. :)

8. Being interviewed by the Wealthy Elementary video team... and doing The Yarn with Charles and Travis Jonker! Air date to be determined, but should be in the next month or two.
Young journalists!9. Sharing boots (!) and rainbow shoelaces with one very loving and enthusiastic educator at Wealthy Elementary. #Startaconversation
10. Coming home full of poetry and light and happiness and gratitude! Even though Friday ended up being a snow day, my flights still went out as scheduled... and Charles and I were able to write across the table from one another, instead of across the country! :) To everyone who had a hand in this one... THANK YOU. I am here fairy-clapping. xo
Irene Latham, Kim Doele, Charles Waters

A Gallery of Poetry and Art Inspired by CAN I TOUCH YOUR HAIR?

Now that Charles and I have been able to share CAN I TOUCH YOUR HAIR? with readers, we are pleased to offer a space to continue the conversation through art and poetry.

Yes, thanks to the wisdom of Poetry Friday poets, we have created a Padlet for teachers to share student work, found HERE.

Please share your words and art with us! 

If you've already created something, or whenever you do, we'd be glad to showcase it. In this way we can inspire each other, and together make the world a place where all may experience a sense of belonging. Thank you!

And now a sneak peek from our recent adventures in Grand Rapids, Michigan. So many thanks to the wonderful educators who hosted us... full report coming soon!

Irene Latham & Charles Waters presenting
at Wealthy Elementary (East Grand Rapids, Michigan)

After the (ALA Youth Media) Awards

Each year I cozy up with my computer to livestream the ALAYMA. For those of us who love children's books, it's better than Christmas! This year there was much to love... well done, committees!

Not a lot of poetry, though... LONG WAY DOWN by Jason Reynolds received by Newbery and CSK Honors, and MACY MACMILLAN, RAINBOW GODDESS by Shari Green got Schneider Family Award, and I think that's it ??

Jacqueline Woodson did received the Laura Ingalls Wilder Award (taking the baton from Nikki Grimes), but yeah, I think a slow year for poetry, at least in the awards department. Readers, do let me know if I missed a poetry title.

The two books I right away ordered from Amazon were the Newbery winner HELLO, UNIVERSE and the Sibert winner VINCENT & THEO: The Van Gogh Brothers, which I have reserved numerous times at my library and somehow still not read. Excited to catch up on these!

Also excited for PIECES OF ME by studio-sib Renee Watson (CSK winner and Newbery Honor), which is lovely and addresses systemic racism, and also the hair-themed CROWN: An Ode to the Fresh Cut... which I adore! Readers this is a good one to pair with CAN I TOUCH YOUR HAIR? :)

What stood out to you about this year's awards?

Advice for Artists that Applies to Writers, Too

Today I'm delighted to be in Grand Rapids, Michigan, where shortly Charles Waters and I will share with students about our book CAN I TOUCH YOUR HAIR?, thanks to amazing educator Kim Doele. I'm excited! But first, let me fill you in on some of my airplane reading:

I've shared before about The Artists Magazine, which I currently subscribe to -- even though I am not really a painter. I'm more of an art appreciator who dabbles occasionally in one medium or another. The most recent issue has some great quotes from the magazine's contest winners -- and they completely apply to writers!

"Let go of fear, and be persistent. Listen to your soul and paint with true emotion. Find a subject that makes your heart sing so that your enthusiasm will shine through in your work." - Dale Marie Muller

"My advice to artists is to fail frequently. This is so very important in painting. I've learned more from failure in every aspect of life than success." - Ron Stocke

Family Grace (Pray) by Norman RockwellAlso, in an article providing prompts for paintings, I found this one that sounds like a poem waiting to happen:

"The kitchen is the center of the home; the table is its gathering place. Create a kitchen or table scene that includes family or friends. Give attention to lighting viewing angle and gestures."

Finally, in the "What the last great book about art you've read?" section, I found this:

"Two books I reread recently were Letters to a Young Poet, by Rainer Maria Rilke, and My Life in Art, by Konstantin Stanislavsky.  Rile speaks to the artist's need of isolation, and Stanislavsky speaks of the artist's need for community." - Costa Vavagiakis, artist

The Poetry of Hawks and Falcons

Hello and Happy Poetry Friday! Be sure to visit Donna at Mainely Write for Roundup.

I've spent part of this week preparing for mine and Charles Waters' week-long visit to schools in Grand Rapids, Michigan, thanks to amazing poet/educator/"cool teacher" Kim Doele. More on this later!

I've also been reading, of course, and the book I want to share today is THE HAWK OF THE CASTLE: A Story of Medieval Falconry by Danna Smith, illus. By Bagram Ibatoulline (Candlewick). It's a combination of verse and nonfiction text boxes and gorgeous art to educate about raptors and also to celebrate a father-daughter relationship. (As one who shared a hobby/obsession with my father, I could so relate!)

Nearly every verse begins "This is..." and ends with "castle." Kind of like the House That Jack Built, except not cumulative.

Here's an early example:

"This is our hawk: a sight to behold,
a master of flight, graceful and bold.
My father trains this bird of prey
who lives with us at the castle."

Right away I learned the difference between hawks and falcons:

"Hawks have a rounded tail and short or broad wings, which allow them to fly more slowly and glide more often than falcons. Falcons, on the other hand, are built for speed, with a streamlined body, long tail, and long, pointed wings."

I did not know that! Readers also learn about equipment like glove and hood, bells attached to the bird's legs, and how to signal a hawk to flight. It's fascinating. And reminds me of FALCON WILD by Terry Lynn Johnson, about a current day falconer who must survive after a car wreck leaves her lost. (I love all of Terry's books!)

This led me to find other birds-of-prey poems:

Evening Hawk by Robert Penn Warren (gorgeous language, including "scythes" as a verb!)

And here is a gorgeous choral piece called "The Falcon."




Readers, if you know of other hawk/falcon poems, please leave them in comments, and I will add them to the post. Thank you! Wishing everyone a beautiful beginning of this, our shortest month. xo

The Moon Inside Us All

Hello and Happy Spiritual Journey Thursday! (It's February. How can that be?) We're gathering over at Donna's Mainely Write to discuss the moon. That's right: the moon! Won't you join us?

As I was casting around for something to share, the first thing that came to mind was a favorite poem by Hafiz called "With That Moon Language." But I already blogged about that for a Spiritual Journey Thursday last March.

And then I remembered a favorite scene from one of my all-time favorite movies: IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE




-------------
That's what the moon inspires, isn't it? Bigness and wonder and magic and connection... I want a life full of love and moonbeams shooting out of my fingers!

AND I have long been comforted by the idea of "same moon." As in, no matter how far apart we are geographically or historically or emotionally, we share the same moon. What peace that thought brings me! And I need peace right now, during this season of so many changes...

And THAT makes me think of a poem I adore by a local poet Joe Whitten... he wrote it for his wife, and in the poem he refers to her as "constant sun" and himself as "fickle moon." I think we poets by nature are most often fickle moons... and we need that constant sun, don't we?

So today and all days I am grateful for the moon -- for its constancy and its changeability. And my suns, too! I enjoy both: the dark and light, the day and night.

Thank you for reading!

Readers Share HAIR Stories... and a Winner!

Earlier this month I sent out an e-newsletter asking people to send in their hair stories to win an autographed copy of CAN I TOUCH YOUR HAIR? Poems of Race, Mistakes and Friendship. If you aren't yet a subscriber, here is the Let's Talk about Hair! issue, and here is the link for you to subscribe and receive news and special opportunities 2-3 times a year!! I'll announce the winner below... but first, here's a sampling of some awesome hair stories I received. Thank you!

 Growing up in South Africa, the laws of apartheid controlled every aspect of my life. Although my friends and I were too young to understand the dire consequences of apartheid, we knew something was wrong—very wrong. As a way of dealing with our discomfort, we joked about the methods the government used to classify people according to race. We pushed rulers or pencils into our hair to see if they would stay in. I sported a mane of long, fine auburn hair, so I was “safe.” But if you had thick curly hair, the ruler didn't fallout, "proving" you were not white—maybe. Little wonder we were acutely embarrassed when the bus drivers asked our olive-skinned, frizzy-haired friend if he was qualified to ride on the “whites only” bus. Another joke, circulating among my friends, was that ignorant censors had banned the novel, Black Beauty, assuming that the title referred to a black woman. As I recalled these incidents in my memoir, I saw more clearly than ever that bigotry is nothing to joke about. - Claire Datnow ------------------
Here’s my hair story. My curly hair comes from permanents. In 1982, my mother paid for me to have a permanent when the Richard Simmons hair phenomenon was popular. I liked the curly hair so much that I have had permanents with a combination of gray and pink curlers ever since. I know that I’ve given a lot of musical cues with a flick of the curls. Such is the power of hair.    - Craig Hultgen
---------------------My mom gave me a home perm and a kid at school called me the Bride of Frankenstein. Years later I learned my husband was called Frankenstein, so it all worked out. :)When my enormous 80s bangs were named "the wave" by Mr. Delgado, my Spanish teacher.I asked my mom for a 2-inch trim, and she kept trying to straighten the jagged line she'd cut, taking 6-8 inches off. I actually laughed and made a quick trip to a walk-in salon.The time my hair was extra short and I thought I'd trim the back with a razor...and shaved a lovely bald spot, just in time for the first day of school.When I didn't know what wedding veil to get, so I cut off all my hair to make the decision easier.For the last six months, I've been trying to work with my natural wave, which shows up in humid places but is tricky to work with in New Mexico. I've adopted "the Curly Girl Method" (a real thing) and am trying to love the sometimes wild look that is my natural hair.  - Caroline Starr Rose-----------------------MY hair is as fine as frogs hair, whatever that means!  - Jo S. Kittinger
----------------------My hair is very neglected. Before I joined the Army and went to basic training I cut my hair very VERY short. It was so short I could barely make a little faux hawk with it. I don't regret it because I didn't have to put my hair up in a perfect but like the other girls. But man did it take forever to grow out. Since that time, I rarely ever cut my hair. Currently, it's been almost a year since my last trim. It's almost down to my butt again and I love it being long!! #longhairforlifeclub - Rachael Dykes a.k.a. Reese Bailey

----------------------When I was 12, I wore my hair short, in a sort of Peter Pan cut. One day while walking down a street with my best friend, Terri, I heard a voice call out behind us, "Ooooh, Terri, who's your new boyfriend?"
I let my hair grow out from that day forward, and though I have periodically worn shortish hair, I insist that it falls at least to my shoulders (even though I finally grew boobs. [image error]

Crazy About Poetry

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

Here in Alabama I subscribe to an email newsletter that shares about poetic happenings in the Birmingham area. Yesterday there was a prompt taken from the book POEMCRAZY: Freeing Your Life with Words by Susan G. Wooldridge.

Here are a few words from the introductory pages:

"It's impossible to teach anyone to write a poem. But we can set up circumstances in which poems are likely to happen. We can create a field in and around us that's fertile territory for poems. Playing with words, we can get to the place where poems come from. We can write and make discoveries about who we are and who we might become whether or not we truly commit ourselves to becoming poets."

And here is the prompt from chapter 31:

"Go outside alone and wander until you notice an object that might have a quality you need or with something to tell you. Name it (Give it a real or made-up name.)Describe it by comparing it to something else (analogy)Then ask it, "Bring me a quality that you have that I need."  "

Here a couple of the examples shared:  

"Striped worn river rock . . .

bring me your heavy wisdomat the still point in the riverwhere I can lie back, like you,in shallow waters . . . .        

- Jeri, an adult

Honey mushroomfloating in grass like a plump cloudbring me your loveof dark places                      

- Susan Wooldridge "

So I decided to give this a try... I hope you will, too! 
cracked plastic bucketstill red as a ripe tomatobring me the abilityto rejoice in the weight of watereven as it dribbles away
----------January maplebare as a fresh-plowed fieldbring me your willingnessto kiss windand cradle snow
----------mama cardinaldrab as an old bootbring me your wayof flying withoutneed for applause
---------
origami swan
graceful as ship's sail
bring me your
gentle acceptance
of folds and creases
----------------Thank you for reading!

The Incredible Magic of Kathryn Erskine

One of my favorite authors -- and humans -- is Kathy Erskine. I first met Kathy back at Virginia Book Festival in 2010 when se shared a panel. That was the year Kathy was promoting MOCKINGBIRD, which went on to win the National Book Award. (Haven't read that one yet? FIX THAT RIGHT NOW.) A few months later Kathy stayed with me when she came to Birmingham for some book events. I was thrilled to show her around and also get know her better!

So anyway, I've recently read two of Kathy's newest books -- a picture book biography MAMA AFRICA! How Miriam Makeba Spread Hope with Her Song, illus. by Charly Palmer and a middle grade novel THE INCREDIBLE MAGIC OF BEING.

They are both wonderful, and I hope you will read them! You will love Miriam. What an inspiring woman! And you just might cry when you read Julian's story... I did. It's a book that healed me in a way -- I both read it in print and listened to it on audio, and more than once I found myself in tears as Julian talked about how people don't just die, they live on in the stars.

Because Julian likes dogs, he's sure he will end up in Sirius, the dog star. I instantly started thinking about people I've lost and what constellations they might inhabit, and it brought me such comfort! Also: what constellation might *I* inhabit?

There's also a kindness meditation in the book that I really think could change the world. And I completely loved the family in this book -- two moms, though this is not a plot point, just a fact -- and a 14 year old sister Pookie who goes all "supernova" from time to time, and also makes orangutan noises. :)

Julian is a wonderful narrator, and he grows in the story in realistic, touching ways that I will leave you to discover. Someday maybe me and Julian will meet each other at the dog star. Thank you, Kathy, for writing this book!