a blessing for sorrow

 Hello and Happy Poetry Friday! Be sure to visit Jill Dailey for Roundup.

Wow, July is clipping along, isn't it? Charles and I had a great time in Chicago teaching at the Poetry Summit put on by the Poetry Foundation.  What a great group of educators! And, fun bonus, we got to explore the Poetry Foundation offices and library! We also got to share a meal with children's poet and picture book author Michelle Schaub. Delightful! I came away with a BUNCH of new ideas and inspirations in my notebook...can't wait to write some new stuff.  Many thanks to Sarah DeVore, Justine Haka, and Angelica Flores for all their hard work making our time together the best it could be. Oh, and if you're ever in Chicago, go to Zarella's and ask to be seated in the SpeakEasy section. Order the fried zucchini. You will not be sorry!

And now my thoughts have turned to the next trip, to Staunton, VA, where Dahlia H. Constantine and I will give an author's tea at Staunton Public Library in celebration of our book A Good Morning for Giddo. Hooray!

In "this is why we do it" news, I received the following email from a reader: 

This makes me so happy! 

Maybe that's why I started out this week's ArtSpeak:WOMEN poem as a love poem. I was thinking about a favorite African proverb and thought I'd write something about love as an early spring afternoon (because that's what the art looks like to me). But it just wasn't working! 

And then I thought: maybe this poem isn't about love after all. The next emotion to settle in my mind was "sorrow." And then the poem felt just right. Thanks so much for reading.

May your sorrow be

like a spring afternoon

rising on a brisk wind

but nestling into the folds

of a hillside warm

with grass and birdsong.

- Irene Latham