Irene Latham's Blog, page 82

ARTSPEAK! Portraits poem "Paint-by-Number" + Spiritual Journey Thursday

Hello and Happy National Poetry Month! This will be a month of double-dipping, as not only will I be sharing with you day 6 of ARTSPEAK!: Portraits, my National Poetry Month poem-a-day project, during which I am looking, listening with my spirit ear, and asking these subject to share with me their secrets -- but it's also Spiritual Journey Thurday! For this month's installment, we are all writing about spring or new life or Easter. Be sure to visit Violet at Violet Nesdoly blog for Roundup! You'll find my comments below!

But first: be sure to check out the Kat's line of our 2017 Progressive Poem over at Kat's Whiskers. I'll be posting my line tomorrow when I host Poetry Friday Roundup! Hee-haw!!
Here are the ARTSPEAK! Portraits poems so far:
5. "Warning" after the bull by Lee Jung Seob4. "I am" after The White Cloud, Head Chief of the Iowas by George Catlin3. "What If?" after Portrait of Camille Roulin by Vincent van Gogh2. "The Lady Confesses" after Portrait of a Lady with Mask and Cherries by Benjamin Wilson1. "Mona Lisa in Love" after Mona Lisa by Leonardo da Vinci
Today I have another woman for you. I was really drawn to this face. I actually worked on this poem with students at Oakwood University during a session titled "Poetry Meets Picasso." I love teaching about how to write art poems -- and these students were amazing and inspiring! Here is a pic of the students selecting postcards to write about: What a beautiful day! Thank you, Oakwood!
And here is what my own (colorful!) woman had to say:

Paint-by-Number- after "Portrait of a Woman" by Alexei von Jawlensky
My checks grow strawberry fields,
my ears sprouta pine forest.
You can hike along
the chocolate ridgeof my nose,
then rest on a bed of violets.
Before you go,paddle out
in my red rowboat mouth.
Drop a hookinto my clear,
deep mountain pools.
Never lose sight <!-- @page { margin: 0.79in } P { margin-bottom: 0.08in } </style> </div></div></div></div><span style="font-family: "times";">of your dreams. </span><br /><div style="font-family: times; margin-bottom: 0in;"><i><br /></i></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><div style="font-family: times;"><i>- Irene Latham</i></div><div style="font-family: times;"><i>------</i></div><div style="font-family: times;"><iframe frameborder="no" height="166" scrolling="no" src="https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=..." width="100%"></iframe>Readers, I tried several approaches to this poem. I was thinking about a poem I read at Oakwood University: "<a href="http://www.afropoets.net/lucilleclift... the Mirror Said" by Lucille Clifton</a>, about the geography of a body, extending that to the geography of a face. And then i found "paint-by-number," and somewhere, likely lurking, was a line from a favorite Jackson Browne song "<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AQiXQ... Pretender</a>" -- "my paint-by-number dreams." AND I was also thinking about Rilke's "Archaic Torso of Apollo," which ends with that unexpected command, "You must change your life." I knew I wanted to end with a command! So that's how THAT happened. :)</div><div style="font-family: times;"><br /></div><div style="font-family: times;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-GqbB1bWw0E..." imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-GqbB1bWw0E..." width="240" /></a></div>And now, switching gears: rebirth for Spiritual Journey Thursday! It's April. Easter is coming. We are all writing poems, watching words push up through the soil to become whatever they will become. That takes courage. And it's mysterious. And an act of faith.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><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://1.bp.blogspot.com/-6Eqf-QoMrU..." imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-6Eqf-QoMrU..." width="229" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">If you don't have a copy of this<br />book, and would like one,<br />email me!<br /> irene (at) irenelatham (dot) com<br />I am giving away copies for NPM!</td></tr></tbody></table>It reminds me of a poem that appears in my book <a href="http://www.irenelatham.com/poetry.htm... SKY BETWEEN US:</a></div><div style="font-family: times;"><br /></div><div lang="en-US" style="break-before: page; font-family: times; line-height: 0.07in; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: #00000a;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>We Begin Again </b></span></span></span></div><div lang="en-US" style="break-before: page; font-family: times; line-height: 0.07in; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: #00000a;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b><br /></b></span></span></span></div><div lang="en-US" style="break-before: page; font-family: times; line-height: 0.07in; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: #00000a;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b><br /></b></span></span></span></div><div lang="en-US" style="font-family: times; line-height: 0.07in; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0.5in; text-indent: 0.5in;"><br /></div><div lang="en-US" style="font-family: times; line-height: 0.07in; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: #00000a;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Redwoods rise </span></span></span></div>on all sides <br />as if born whole <br /><br />and placed by a god <br />whose one decree <br />was silence. <br /><br />The seed cannot <br />know its own greatness, <br />as we can’t foresee<br /><br />love’s evolution,<br />only marvel<br />when it comes—<br /><br />the seed transformed<br />to a giant <br />with foot-thick skin, <br /><br />arms reaching <br />toward an ocean <br />it will never taste. <br /><i><br /></i><i>- Irene Latham</i><br /><i><br /></i>I wrote this poem after Paul and I visited <a href="https://www.nps.gov/muwo/index.htm&qu... Woods,</a> which I consider one of the most holy places I've ever visited. The conversations those trees were having! What a blessing just to walk and listen and BE -- all the while becoming something MORE than we were the moment before. May we all keep growing and reaching toward that ocean. xo</div><style type="text/css"> <!-- @page { margin: 0.79in } P { margin-bottom: 0.08in } </style> <br />-->

ARTSPEAK! Portraits poem "Warning"

Hello and Happy National Poetry Month! Here it is, day 5 of ARTSPEAK!: Portraits, my National Poetry Month poem-a-day project, during which I am looking, listening with my spirit ear, and asking these subject to share with me their secrets.
But first: be sure to check out the Diane's line of our 2017 Progressive Poem over at
Here are the ARTSPEAK! Portraits poems so far:

4. "I am" after The White Cloud, Head Chief of the Iowas by George Catlin
3. "What If?" after Portrait of Camille Roulin by Vincent van Gogh2. "The Lady Confesses" after Portrait of a Lady with Mask and Cherries by Benjamin Wilson1. "Mona Lisa in Love" after Mona Lisa by Leonardo da Vinci

Today I have an animal for you -- a bull by Korean artist Lee Jung Seob.
It's not my first animal portrait to write about... back in 2015 I wrote about Renoir's Head of a Dog. Including an animal from time to time is one way to keep this project interesting -- for me.  As those of you who write daily know, we can lose our enthusiasm from time to time! 
Here's what this bull would like you to know:

Warning
My bellowdoes not mean hello,
I am not at allpleased to meet you.
I'd rather you stay         out
of my barbed wirekingdom.
Remember, for me,the sky is always red.
The sun blinksdanger danger danger –
so don't touch my cowsor my calves.
Please, just leave me in peace
so I can breathethe clover-sweet air.
- Irene Latham-------------------- Readers, I don't have a lot of experience with cows, but I do have the internet... and my mother's stories! She raised both dairy and beef cattle, and was very involved in showing them for 4-H. I've heard many tales of her adventures! The biggest message I got was, don't mess with a bull. They are unpredictable and dangerous. 
When I was writing this poem I was also thinking about something I heard recently about people with Asperger's. This young adult said that being an Aspie was like that feeling of being mugged - the anxiety and terror - 24 hours a day. I was thinking perhaps this bull feels that way, too. Everything is a threat. "The world is too much with us...." <!-- @page { margin: 0.79in } P { margin-bottom: 0.08in } </style> <br /><br />

ARTSPEAK! Portraits poem "I Am"

Hello and Happy National Poetry Month! Here it is, day 4 of ARTSPEAK!: Portraits, my National Poetry Month poem-a- day project, during which I am looking, listening with my spirit ear, and asking these subject to share with me their secrets.
But first: be sure to check out the Michelle's line of our 2017 Progressive Poem over at Today's Little Ditty. While you're there, be sure to check out the March padlet of amazing inspiring ode poems! What a gift!

Here are the ARTSPEAK! Portraits poems so far:

3. "What If?" after Portrait of Camille Roulin by Vincent van Gogh2. "The Lady Confesses" after Portrait of a Lady with Mask and Cherries by Benjamin Wilson1. "Mona Lisa in Love" after Mona Lisa by Leonardo da Vinci
Today I've decided to have a conversation with "The White Cloud, Head Chief of the Iowas" by George Catlin. In order to give White Cloud an authentic voice, I needed to do some research. Here is a great essay about White Cloud. You'll see I was able to incorporate some of the information found there into my poem.
As always, when writing across cultures, I am aware that I may miss the mark in my efforts at empathy. But I do believe it's important we try. And it's important to remember First Nations people and teach about their near-genocide as a result of U.S. government policy.

Here's what White Cloud told me:


I Am-after "The White Cloud, Head Chief of the Iowas" by George Catlin
I am White Cloud, Chief of the Iowas.I smear my face with vermillion
so you will know the strengthand power of my hands.
I clothe myself in gifts from my animal brothers: eagle feathers, wolf skin, otter fur.
Of all my enemies, the white manis the one I cannot honor,
the one I will never defeat.
Even a bear will give you the mark of its claws.But the white man takes
and takes and takes, until all that's left is a curl of smoke vanishing into air.
<!-- @page { margin: 0.79in } P { margin-bottom: 0.08in } </style> </div></div>Look at me: I am here. I will always be here.<br /><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><i>- Irene Latham</i></div>----------------<br /><iframe frameborder="no" height="166" scrolling="no" src="https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=..." width="100%"></iframe>A friend and I were talking the other day about persona poems, and how they often give us insight into the poet. This is true! Even as I am asking these subjects to tell me <i>their</i> secrets, I am also telling you about ME. For instance, in this poem, I hope you can detect in my poem my long-time appreciation for First Nations spirituality and the way their culture celebrates the earth and our connectedness to the natural world and all life, before and after our own.

ARTSPEAK! Portraits poem "What If?"

Hello and Happy National Poetry Month! Here it is, day 3 of ARTSPEAK!: Portraits, my National Poetry Month poem-a- day project, during which I am looking, listening with my spirit ear, and asking these subject to share with me their secrets.
But first: be sure to check out the Doraine's line of our 2017 Progressive Poem over at Dori Reads!
Also: I posted today over at Smack Dab in the Middle about 4 writing craft books that changed my life. Check it out!

And here are the poems so far:
"The Lady Confesses""Mona Lisa in Love"
Today I've got a little boy for you -- "Portrait of Camille Roulin" by Vincent van Gogh. I was instantly drawn to the color in this one, and how Camille's gaze is lowered. He doesn't look quite comfortable, does he? When I asked him why, this is what he said:



What If?- after "Portrait of Camille Roulin" by Vincent van Gogh
What ifthe sky really was     yellow?
What ifI pressedthe red buttonand it openeda secret     greendoor?
What ifmy hatheld a stormy    blueocean?
What ifI wasn't shyand couldinsteadmeet your   rainboweyes? <!-- @page { margin: 0.79in } P { margin-bottom: 0.08in } </style> </div></div>--> <br /><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><i><br /></i></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><i>- Irene Latham</i></div><br />-------------<br /><br />Sometimes I think we misinterpret shy children as rude or unintelligent.<br /><br />As a shy person, I can tell you that there is great comfort to be found in one's imagination, and this is often a trick we use to get through an uncomfortable situation -- just go someplace else inside our minds!<br />And it's not that we don't like you, it's just we often want to be invisible, and one way to shut out the world is to not make eye contact. It's not about you at all. Give us time to get comfortable, and we'll be more likely to engage.<br /><br />

ArtSpeak! Portraits poem "The Lady Confesses"

Hello and Happy National Poetry Month! Here it is, day 2 of ARTSPEAK!: Portraits, my National Poetry Month poem-a- day project, during which I am looking, listening with my spirit ear, and asking these subject to share with me their secrets.
But first: be sure to check out the Tabatha's line of our 2017 Progressive Poem over at The Opposite of Indifference!
And here are the poems so far:
"Mona Lisa in Love"
Today I've got another woman for you -- "Portrait of a Lady with Mask and Cherries" by Benjamin Wilson. She's not famous like yesterday's Mona Lisa. And instead of the Mona Lisa's mystery, she's got an air of defiance, or challenge about her. Here is what she told me about herself:

The Lady Confesses-after "Portrait of a Lady with Mask and Cherries" by Benjamin Wilson
You want to knowwho I really am,without the mask?
I thought you'dnever ask.
Sometimes my mouth is tartas these cherries.
I've got pits hard enough to crackyour teeth.
See how I coloryour fingertipsand lips?
Even sweetnesscan leave a stain.
- Irene Latham--------
Don't let those Boy Scout uniforms
fool you...Readers, I know exactly where this poem comes from! The other day a friend said how I seemed so sweet, but I have a wee mean streak. I confessed to her that once upon a time, my brothers might have called me "Mean Irene." In my defense, I was always provoked! Those brothers taught me to be scrappy, to be strong, to stand up for myself. Looking back, I am not entirely sure how I survived them. But I did! And now I'm so grateful for all they've given me.

ARTSPEAK!: Portraits poem "Mona Lisa in Love"

Hello and Happy National Poetry Month! Here it is, day 1 of ARTSPEAK!: Portraits, my National Poetry Month poem-a- day project, during which I am looking, listening with my spirit ear, and asking these subject to share with me their secrets.

But first: be sure to check out the Heidi's first line of our 2017 Progressive Poem over at my juicy little universe!
Today I decided to go ahead and have a chat with arguably the most famous portrait of all -- the "Mona Lisa" by Leonardo da Vinci! Here's what she told me:

Mona Lisa in Love
You say my eyeshold oceans of mystery,
that questions nest in my hair.
You want me to show youwhat's hiding behind my sly smile.
What if I told youI'm sleepy, dreamy –
swept away on a tide of memory?
It's simply youI'm remembering,
the two of us sailing together <!-- @page { margin: 0.79in } P { margin-bottom: 0.08in } </style> <br />--> <br /><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">across a boundless canvas of blue.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><i><br /></i></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><i>- Irene Latham</i></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><i><br /></i></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><i>---------------------------------</i></div><iframe frameborder="no" height="166" scrolling="no" src="https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=..." width="100%"></iframe> <br /><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><br />Friends and readers who frequent this blog know I am a sucker for love poems! Often when faced with a blank page and no particular destination, a love poem is where I end up. It's kind of a lovely place to be, isn't it, remembering time spent with a loved one?</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">Also, you may notice there are differences in the formatting between the graphic version and the printed version below. That's simply due to space issues on the graphic. However It thought it might be useful to others to share both versions, as I often play with stanza and line breaks during revision. Sometimes it takes me a while to find the right formatting.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">Thanks so much for reading!</div>

Let's Celebrate National Poetry Month 2017 with poetry, art, podcasts, postcards & more!

Hello, and Happy Poetry Friday! Be sure to visit amazing Amy at The Poem Farm for Roundup! Amy is also celebrating her 7th blogiversary with a giveaway of a set of 10 EVERY DAY BIRDS, so be sure to stop by!

Wow, can we really be on the eve of National Poetry Month?! I'm excited! There are so so many ways to celebrate... you can find out how others are celebrating by reading Jama's roundup post at Jama's Alphabet Soup!

2015Here at Live Your Poem, for the third year in a row, I will be posting a poem a day inspired by art.

In 2015, I didn't have a theme per se - beyond all pieces of art coming from the digital collection at the National Gallery of Art.

Last year, 2016, in honor of the release of FRESH DELICIOUS, I focused on
2016Plant, Grow Eat!

You can find links to all of those poems on the ARTSPEAK! tab above!

This year's ARTSPEAK! will focus on.... portraits! To add some diversity to the images, I am not limiting my selections to the National Gallery of Art collection. I actually found a number of my subjects on the Google Arts & Culture app, which I love.

I will be listening with my "spirit ear" as I look at these paintings. I am very excited to find out what secrets these people (and a few animals) want to share with me!

2017

I look forward to reading everyone's National Poetry Month offerings! And here are a few other ways I'll be celebrating:

Our Progressive Poem! Yay! Tomorrow Heidi will share the first line at my juicy little universe. See the full schedule in the sidebar!

My gracious poet-friend Sarah has an amazing collection of broadsides, and she will be posting one a day at her blog To Give to the Light during National Poetry Month!

There is a Twitter chat focusing on how poetry can bring us together Thursday, April 6, 7 pm EST with hashtag  #FirstBookChat. Poets I know who will be attending include Janet Wong, Sylvia Vardell, Charles Water, Nancy Bo Flood, Alma Flor Ada, Isabel Campoy, Joseph Bruchac, and me! Hope you will join us.

Daily poetry podcasts! I'm pleased to be one of many in our community who contributed to Bookology's Poetry Mosaic Podcasts. You can keep up on Twitter @newsbookology or Facebook.

I will be sending out my annual "Live Your Poem" postcards! If you're not already on my list, there is still time to sign up:



I also have a number of speaking/teaching engagements, which I hope to share more about as they come to pass!

Finally, a random art poem in celebration of this last night before National Poetry Month:

<!-- @page { margin: 0.79in } P { margin-bottom: 0.08in } </style> </span></span><br />--> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-LuPCRxTAW5..." imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="252" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-LuPCRxTAW5..." width="320" /></a></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>Night</b></span></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><style type="text/css"> <!-- @page { margin: 0.79in } P { margin-bottom: 0.08in } </style> </div>--> <div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"> <span style="font-size: xx-small;">- after “<span style="font-family: "arial" , serif;">Woods at Night with Travelers” by Joris van der Haagen</span></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , serif;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">While you sleep</span></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">I steep</span></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">the trees</span></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">in silver light,</span></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">I open my jar</span></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">of stars </span></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">to guide travelers </span></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">from afar</span></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">and lean</span></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">into your window</span></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">to kiss your </span></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">eyelids.</span></span></div><span style="color: #222222; font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white;"> <style type="text/css"> <!-- @page { margin: 0.79in } P { margin-bottom: 0.08in } </style> </span></span><br />--> <div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><i>- Irene Latham</i></div>

LEAVING GEE'S BEND paperback cover!

LEAVING GEE'S BEND was released from Putnam/Penguin in January 2010. It was my first book for children, and what got me out of my pajamas: that first year I gave over 100 presentations about the book and Gee's Bend! It changed my life in so many wonderful ways, so of course it holds a dear place in my heart.

And now it's coming out in paperback! I'm so grateful to NewSouth Books who acquired it after Putnam/Penguin let it go out of print. It releases in April, and my hope is that Ludelphia goes out and makes many more new friends!

Here's the paperback cover:


And here is an invitation to the event we've got planned for the release:


WE LOVE GEE'S BEND DAY!
Sunday, April 23, 2017
2 pm
Emmet O'Neal Library
50 Oak St., Mountain Brook, AL 35213

Community members will share Gee's bend stories, quilts, favorite scenes, and more! Gee's Bend quilters Mary Ann Pettway and China Pettway will be there! Other featured guests include Mary Allison Haynie (AL Folklife Association), Lillis Taylor (Bib & Tucker), Claudia Pettway (That's Sew Gee's Bend), students, teachers, friends, and others! Y'all come!

Language with Neither Noun nor Verb

Hello and Happy Poetry Friday! Be sure to visit Catherine at Reading to the Core for Roundup. Can you believe it's just one week until National Poetry Month?! If you signed up for the Progressive Poem, I will be sending you some information mid-week next week.

Don't forget to sign up to receive a postcard from Jone's students. It's one of my favorite NPM traditions.

I also have a National Poetry Month postcard tradition, now in its 6th year! It features art, and it's free! Sign up by clicking the image below.

And now for a poem by Susan J. Erickson, as found in a book called EARTH BLESSINGS: Prayers, Poems and Meditations selected by June Cotner.

Spirit Ear
- After a line by Rumi

Let your spirit ear listen
to the green dome's passionate murmur.
Ferns burst from the earth,
their coiled heads muted cymbals
in spring's orchestra.
From the topmost branch of a cedar
a Bewick's wren sways and trills
about something that translates as happiness
in a language with neither noun nor verb.
Water and wind, chords of clouds,
a crescendo of light.
-------------------------

I want to do much more listening with my spirit ear! This poem jumped out at me today for a couple of reasons. First, it's spring.

Second, I've been reading a book called YOU MUST CHANGE YOUR LIFE: The Story of Rainer Maria Rilke and Auguste Rodin by Rachel Corbett. So when I first read "Rumi" I was thinking "Rilke" - a mistake I have made more times than I'd like to admit!

Anyway, the book is fascinating. I didn't know these two were friends! I'm actually far more interested in Rodin than in Rilke. I really had no idea the influence Rodin (and other artists) had on Rilke's life. I've long enjoyed Rilke's poetry, but I feel a kinship with him now that I didn't before, as art and artists are such an important source of beauty and inspiration in my own life. And Rodin! What a force!

Third, this poem reminds me of another book I listened to recently: ANNA AND THE SWALLOW MAN by Gavriel Savit. Set in 1939 Krakow, 7 year old Anna knows many many languages, but she tells the Swallow Man that she doesn't know the language of birds. It's a beautiful book-- I'm currently listening to it for a second time. (When it won the Odyssey Award, one of my favorite librarians gifted it to me! SO GRATEFUL, Wendy Stephens!)

Books and poetry and spring... talk about abundance! Life is good. Thanks so much for reading!

A Honey of a Memory Pillow

Honey-n-meI have had many special pets in my life, but there is one that remains the most special of them all: a palomino Shetland pony named Honeysuckle Rose -- Honey, for short.

She was just six months old and no bigger than a German Shepherd when we packed her into the back seat of our car to bring her home. Oh, how I loved that pony! I was 11, and I spent so many hours out in the backyard grooming her and talking to her and loving her.

At the time we were living on Willie Rd. in Folsom, Louisiana, which is not known for its cold weather. But all the thoroughbred horses that lived on the farms in the area always sported blankets whenever the temps dropped below freezing, so I thought Honey should have a blanket, too. But where to find a blanket for such a small pony?!

a picture of me with my Christmas
loot (including Honey's blanket),
circa 1982Enter my seamstress mother who is a genius at solving problems with fabric. When she was a teen active in 4-H, she had once made a blanket for her cow -- a blanket the cow couldn't shake. So she made one similar for Honey and gave it to me for Christmas.

I put it on Honey right away! And have this oh so distinct memory of a photograph of the two of us that day, on the back patio, Honey sporting her new blanket, and me patting her head. But. Maybe that photo doesn't actually exist, because I haven't been able to find it anywhere!

Fast-forward 35 years... I found the blanket in a box of keepsakes. My mom was shocked to learn I'd kept it all these years! On our scrapbook weekend, I brought it to my mom with a pillow form and a request: make this into a pillow. And  this is what she did:


Isn't it gorgeous! She used the red plaid lining as piping, and kept one of the straps operational! (I told you, she's a genius.) And here's what she monogrammed on the backside:
What a treasure! Thank you, Mama. Here a couple of other Honey-n-me pics, just for fun: