The Butterfly Hours Memoir Project: LIBRARY
Hello and Happy Poetry Friday! Be sure to visit for Buffy's Blog for Roundup. Today my memoir prompt inspired a trio of poems, so you'll find those below. Meanwhile I have been revising a poetry collection coming from WordSong next year -- whew, it's been exhausting and exhilarating! More on this later. Meanwhile...
For 2019 I'm running a year-long series on my blog in which I share my responses to the writing assignment prompts found in THE BUTTERLY HOURS by Patty Dann.
I welcome you to join me, if you like! I've divided the prompts by month, and the plan is to respond to 3 (or so) a week. For some of these I may write poems, for others prose. The important thing is to mine my memory. Who knows where this exploration will lead?
For links to the prompts I've written on so far this year, please click on The Butterfly Hours tab above. This month's prompts include: hospital, hotel, humming, ice-skating, illness, kitchen table, knife, laundry, library, lunch.
LIBRARY
I do have a wonderful library story about a time when a library pretty much saved my life (you can read the post here). And my most favorite library story of all time has to do with Papa's rocking chair, which you can sit in at the library in Port St. Joe, FL.
Two favorite reading/library books are READ! READ! READ! by Amy Ludwig VanDerwater and Lee Bennett Hopkins' anthology JUMPING OFF LIBRARY SHELVES.
I've also written quite a few reading poems, like "Dear Reader," (from the perspective of a book!) and "Fishing for a Reader," which I often ask kids to help me act out during school visits. My poem "I Give Thanks for Trussville, Alabama," which appears in J. Patrick Lewis' THE POETRY OF US anthology features a library. I have been a reader as long as I can remember -- such an important part of my life!
So to write a fresh reading/library poem is kind of daunting. Here are 3 efforts, with, of course, the fresh-est one being the last one (though it's still drafty)! Which is a reminder to me: Dig deeper. Keep going.
Welcome to the Library
Come – inhale the inkblossom air,
feast your mindon fact and fantasy.
Escape the confusingeveryday world,
settle onto the magicalcarpeted valley
found between book mountains –
where the treasureat the end of each story
is a different you.
At the Library
Inkblossom air,forest of books –settle onto the carpeted valleyto read, listen, or simply just look.
A Message from the Library Mouse
I live in a city of storieswhere books skyscrapethe walls.
I live in a city of storieswhere adventureswhisper their call.
I live in a city of storieswhere I feast onpictures and words.
I live in a city of storiesthat turn me to wizardor zombie or bird!
I live in a city of stories.There's no place I'd rather be.
Today my story is about horses – come, won't you ride along with me?
- Irene Latham
For 2019 I'm running a year-long series on my blog in which I share my responses to the writing assignment prompts found in THE BUTTERLY HOURS by Patty Dann.
I welcome you to join me, if you like! I've divided the prompts by month, and the plan is to respond to 3 (or so) a week. For some of these I may write poems, for others prose. The important thing is to mine my memory. Who knows where this exploration will lead?For links to the prompts I've written on so far this year, please click on The Butterfly Hours tab above. This month's prompts include: hospital, hotel, humming, ice-skating, illness, kitchen table, knife, laundry, library, lunch.
LIBRARY
I do have a wonderful library story about a time when a library pretty much saved my life (you can read the post here). And my most favorite library story of all time has to do with Papa's rocking chair, which you can sit in at the library in Port St. Joe, FL.
Two favorite reading/library books are READ! READ! READ! by Amy Ludwig VanDerwater and Lee Bennett Hopkins' anthology JUMPING OFF LIBRARY SHELVES.
I've also written quite a few reading poems, like "Dear Reader," (from the perspective of a book!) and "Fishing for a Reader," which I often ask kids to help me act out during school visits. My poem "I Give Thanks for Trussville, Alabama," which appears in J. Patrick Lewis' THE POETRY OF US anthology features a library. I have been a reader as long as I can remember -- such an important part of my life!So to write a fresh reading/library poem is kind of daunting. Here are 3 efforts, with, of course, the fresh-est one being the last one (though it's still drafty)! Which is a reminder to me: Dig deeper. Keep going.
Welcome to the Library
Come – inhale the inkblossom air,
feast your mindon fact and fantasy.
Escape the confusingeveryday world,
settle onto the magicalcarpeted valley
found between book mountains –
where the treasureat the end of each story
is a different you.
At the Library
Inkblossom air,forest of books –settle onto the carpeted valleyto read, listen, or simply just look.
A Message from the Library Mouse
I live in a city of storieswhere books skyscrapethe walls.
I live in a city of storieswhere adventureswhisper their call.
I live in a city of storieswhere I feast onpictures and words.
I live in a city of storiesthat turn me to wizardor zombie or bird!
I live in a city of stories.There's no place I'd rather be.
Today my story is about horses – come, won't you ride along with me?
- Irene Latham
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