I'm still cranking away, writing my new middle grade novel, each day getting closer to "the end" of my first draft. Exciting!
Next week I'll be welcoming Jeannine Atkins to Live Your Poem to talk a bit about her new beautiful, powerful verse memoir Knocking On Windows (Simon & Schuster, Aug. 5, 2025). I have learned so much from Jeannine over the years, about life, writing, and possibility—you won't want to miss this!
For this week's ArtSpeak: PICASSO offering, I've been exploring Picasso's landscapes. Whole exhibitions have been mounted featuring Picasso's landscapes! And when I saw this one, painted during his early marriage to Jacqueline (when he was around age 80!), I knew I wanted to write about it.
Is it Picasso speaking? Maybe, but it could be just me. :) Thanks so much for reading!
If I Were to Paint You as a Mountain
by Irene Latham
You would be blue
and the clouds
would circle
your shoulders,
cypresses whispering
I am yours
and I would blow
through you
scattering wings
and light—
what fences?
what walls?
Just us,
always singing
always new.
I love that you are writing to Picasso. I may pick an artist and do that myself. What a lovely way to feel inside a painting and reinterpret it. I can't wait for Jeannie's next book.
ReplyDeleteExciting about Jeannine's new book! I love hearing what she has to say. I like those clouds circling and cypresses whispering... Cypresses do seem especially whispery, don't they? Good luck with your draft! xo
ReplyDeletePerfect POV in this poem...extraordinarily intimate but also allows me as the reader to step into the voice. "what fences?," indeed. Lovely layered with that painting.
ReplyDeleteIrene, I admire how you scan beneath the layers of paint like an archeologist searching for bones to build back up into the story!
ReplyDeleteThis would make a beautiful love song. I want to order Jeanine’s book. I love her writing.
ReplyDeleteThank you for introducing me to a Picasso painting I've not seen before. I love this poem, especially the cypresses whispering "I am yours."
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