When All is Lost (poem)

 Hello and Happy Poetry Friday! Be sure to visit radiant Rose at Imagine the Possibilities for Roundup.

This weekend I'm attending SCBWI Southern Breeze conference in Atlanta! Charles and I will be presenting a couple of sessions—on How to Write Books with Multiple Narrators and also on Collaboration (& how to keep a friendship through it all!), and I'm traveling with two long-time writing buddies. Yay!

Today's poem arrived after a few days of admiring this art (another from the daily art calendar gifted me by my eldest son!) when I heard myself say, "I feel lost." I was talking about my writing life, and not knowing where to put my energy. And then, just about as soon as I said it, a little twinkle lit up my brain—an idea, a direction, a calling. And so I wrote this poem to capture that moment. Thanks so much for reading!

When All is Lost

crumple your maps,
pocket your compass

allow yourself
to sink
into darkness

whatever river
you're sailing—

whether waves
are whipping
or still—

somewhere, a blink
a twinkle

               this way
- Irene Latham