In the Grip of the Ice by Doraine Bennett *GIVEAWAY*

 Hello and Happy Poetry Friday! Be sure to visit Linda at TeacherDance for Roundup.

This week's Tuesday 2-Minute Writing Tip 30 is for fiction writers, about leaning into fear when you're creating a plot. I hope you find it useful!

And now I'm excited to welcome my dear friend Doraine Bennett to the blog to respond to some simple prompts as they apply to her brand-new verse novel In the Grip of the Ice (Bandersnatch Books, 2026). 

What's it about?

According to Kirkus: "A teenage stowaway records the disastrous course of Sir Ernest Shackleton’s 1914-1917 Antarctic expedition."

Here's the blurb I provided after reading the ARC: "Stow away for a few hours in these pages to experience a dark, frozen world that—thanks to Bennett's deep research and vivid poetic voice—radiates warmth, humanity, and hope."

*Leave a comment below to be entered to win a signed copy of the book! Entries open thru 11:59 pm Monday March 16. Winner announced here on the blog Friday March 20!

I remember Doraine reading snippets of this work in progress years ago, so it's especially fun to see it now in book format, soon to be in readers' hands! Here's the opening poem:

Welcome, Doraine!

FRESH 

DB: This manuscript has languished for a long time, collecting digital dust in a virtual drawer. I discovered Bandersnatch Books in the summer of 2024 when they sent out a call for submissions. They specialize in books that are a little off the beaten path—stories traditional publishers often don’t have room or time for—and they are especially interested in works that bridge the reading space between middle grade and young adult.

In January of 2025, I received word that they wanted to publish my book. For a while it felt like a dream. Bandersnatch is a small press that publishes only five books a year, so I was absolutely thrilled.

When Shackleton’s ship, Endurance, was discovered beneath the ice of the Weddell Sea in 2022, interest in the expedition—and in Shackleton’s remarkable leadership that ultimately brought every man home—was reignited around the world. The wreck was found nearly 10,000 feet below the surface, less than two miles from the location the ship’s navigator, Frank Worsley, had recorded when it sank 107 years earlier. 

More than a hundred years later, the story still has the power to capture our imagination. My book returns to that remarkable expedition through the voice of the young stowaway who secretly climbed aboard the Endurance—a nineteen-year-old who had no idea he was stepping into one of the greatest survival stories ever told.

DIFFICULT

DB: The most difficult aspect of writing In the Grip of the Ice was piecing together the journey from the journals the men left behind. Every story has many angles of vision. Each man recorded what he saw and felt in the moment, and those perspectives don’t always align neatly. The events remain the same, but the story bends slightly depending on whose voice is telling it.

Doraine's office wall while trying
to make sense of the story.

Some men wrote about the brutal cold. Others about the work of hauling sledges. Still others about the strange routines that developed as the ship drifted in the ice for months—reading aloud, playing games, writing letters home that might never be sent.

My task was to gather all of those voices and wrangle them into a single, coherent narrative while still honoring the human experience inside the journals.

DELICIOUS

DB: Poetry is delicious. It compresses language until every word has flavor. A single image can carry the weight of an entire scene.

When I began writing In the Grip of the Ice, I discovered that poetry was the best way to hold the fragments I found in the journals of Shackleton’s crew. Verse allowed me to distill moments—the groaning of the ice, the endless drift, the uncertainty of survival—into something that could carry both the event and the emotion of the men living through it.

Poetry also has a unique ability to enter the inner landscape of a character. In a few lines, it can hold fear, hope, loneliness, or courage, and invite the reader to imagine not just what happened, but what it might have felt like to stand on that vast Antarctic ice.

There was another reason poetry felt right for this story. Shackleton himself often recited poetry to encourage his men during the darkest stretches of the expedition. Telling the story in verse felt like honoring that small but powerful thread running through their journey.

  

ANYTHING ELSE

DB: I love reading aloud, so sharing a few of these poems brought me so much delight when friends organized a launch party earlier this week. It was just so much fun! Poetry really does come alive when it’s spoken. Hearing the rhythm of the lines and feeling the pauses land in a room full of people made the story feel new again, even to me.

After spending so many years quietly working on the manuscript, it was a joy to hear the words spoken aloud and shared with others. For a moment, it felt as if the long journey of this book had finally found its voice.

--

Thank you, Doraine!! Y'all, don't miss this book. It's special!

For my ArtSpeak: WOMEN poem, I've chosen from the Harper's Bazaar list another new-to-me artist, Leonora Carrington. Her work is surreal, wildly imaginative, and, okay, odd. But that's what's so cool about it! I was instantly drawn into this piece from the title alone: And Then We Met the Daughter of the Minotaur. A story is happening! What is that story? It could be so many things! I highly recommend the great (short) video here from MoMA (where the piece resides). 

Also, I needed a refresher on mythical creatures. Minotaur = half human/half bull. Centaur = half human/half horse. I always get those confused! 

AND...I've been thinking a lot about how this life journey is much less about acquiring things and much more about letting things go—shaving away all the not-you things until you become just yourself, and nothing else. Thanks so much for reading!

And Then We Saw the Daughter of the Minotaur

She sat like a queen woken
from a dream of flying.

Her father may have been defeated,
but that didn't stop her

from dressing in a crimson gown,
unleashing a sky full of bubbles.

You must learn to let go, she said.
Let your feelings rise like magic bubbles

then     POP!
See them shimmer, disappear.

- Irene Latham

Desert Rain poems

 Hello and Happy Poetry Friday! Be sure to visit Karen Edmisten for Roundup.

You're invited to view Tuesday 2-Minute Writing Tip 29: Small Steps Lead to Big Writing. I hope you find the message useful!

I also shared some poems over at Smack Dab in the Middle, an Invitation to Bravery for Writers. Courage comes in all sizes and seasons...

What a thrill for Charles & me to be featured on Book Breaks video series for For the Win: Poems About Phenomenal Athletes. It was fun sharing poems from the book about LeBron James (by JaNay Brown-Wood) and Eileen Gu (by Nancy Tupper Ling), in honor of her recent Olympics medals! Kaylyn Farneth has created such a special series for teachers sharing booko-love... be sure to get to know her!

Today's ArtSpeak: WOMEN features work by another new-to-me artist: Agnes Martin. I am intrigued by abstract work, which feels so mysterious to me! I lean heavily on titles of the works to help me find meaning. I instantly loved the "feeling" of "Desert Rain." Stark, yes, but also full of promise...so much unseen! It carried me to Death Valley National Park, which I have long wanted to visit in the springtime, to catch the wildflower season. 2026 is predicted to be a "superbloom" year! I wrote two poems -- one a trinet, the other a failed haiku. (Too many syllables!) Thanks so much for reading.

Trinet After Drought

Desert rain,

what winds

blew you across these mountains today?

I wish I could catch you,

carry you

like a

bride's bouquet.

- Irene Latham

Gift

Rain, forever swift of heart,

waits until mountains are sleeping

to ride in on a brisk wind

& surprise desert with flowers

-Irene Latham

p.s. I read somewhere recently (where??) that "swift of heart" doesn't mean "fast." It means "to be fully committed." I love that!!

Sports and Spiders!

 Hello and Happy Poetry Friday! Be sure to visit Margaret at Reflections on the Teche for Roundup.

This week's Tuesday 2-Minute Writing Tip 28 "Contracts, Not Handshakes" touches upon the business side of writing and includes a real-life cautionary tale.

Next Tuesday (March 3, 2026) is the release date for For the Win: Poems Celebrating Phenomenal Athletes, poems selected by Irene Latham and Charles Waters, brought to us by the good folks at Carolrhoda/Lerner Publishing Group. 

Y'all, I am not a sports person. (POETRY is my sport!) This anthology was Charles' idea, and I, pretty much always being up for a challenge, said yes! 

I do love sports stories and athlete stories (and the Olympics!), which are so like creator-stories, all full of dreams and training and setbacks and inspiration and achievement...and I love how this book showcases moments from ALL of it, not just the glory days.

So much gratitude to the following poets—and the athletes!—who were a dream to work with:

Jaime Adoff - Mookie Betts

Lacresha Berry - A’ja Wilson

Jay Brazeau - Connor McDavid

JaNay Brown-Wood - LeBron James

Tanita S. Davis - Simone Biles

Mariana Dominé - Lionel Messi

Naaz Khan - Aprar Hassan

Irene Latham - Nelly Korda

Nancy Tupper Ling - Eileen Gu

Guadalupe García McCall - Juan Soto

Edna Cabcabin Moran - Roman Reigns

Darius Phelps - Patrick Mahomes

Glenis Redmond- Coco Gauff

Kim Rogers - Keenan Allen (Lumbee)

René Saldaña - Ronald Acuña, Jr.

Laura Shovan and Leah Henderson - Sophia Smith

Sarah Grace Tuttle - Jessica Long

Charles Waters - Jalen Hurts

Kao Kalia Yang - Suni Lee

--

If I were really on top of things, I might have coordinated my ArtSpeak: WOMEN poem this week with For the Win and gone with a sports theme. But, that's not how my creativity rolls (at least not this week :)!

Today's poem is inspired by a new-to-me artist from the Harper's Bazaar list: Louise Bourgeois. What a fascinating person! Learn more about Louise and the piece I selected, titled "Maman." Louise used her art to face her fears, a theme that came into my poem.

Again, if I were really on top of things, this piece would have been perfect for my interview earlier this month with Shannon Bramer, who shared about her "Dollhouse Spiders."  Alas. But the beauty of ye ol' internet is one can revisit old posts, so yay! Thanks so much for reading.

Today my friend Louise placed me 

in the center of the world

No more shadows for you, she said, and stroked my head
with her sculptor-fingers. Show them your tenderness,
your mender-heart perched on dancer-legs.
Fear set my toes a-tremble. You want me to stitch for them,
to spin? Louise's smile came soft-sudden as sunshine 

after snow. Let them look at you, she said.
Let them look at you until they can no longer look away.

- Irene Latham

A Palindrome Birthday

 Hello and Happy Poetry Friday! Be sure to visit Susan at Chicken Spaghetti for Roundup.

It's almost my birthday, and it's a palindrome year—55. (I keep thinking: "I can't drive 55.":) Hooray! And happy birthday to my birthday twin Ruth and the many other Poetry Friday friends who have birthdays this time of year.

In other news, Tuesday 2-Minute Writing Tip 27 is about "Writers Who Give Me Courage." I'm so grateful to so many writers, and in this episode I mention a few.

Who are the writers who give you courage?? 

Also, in honor of Year of the Fire Horse, I wanted to share a few "horse" poems from ye ol' blog:

Anatomy of a Horse

Wild Horse

When a Horse Writes a Poem

Before the Race

This week's ArtSpeak: WOMEN is after a piece by one of my favorite artists Frida Kahlo. A dream of mine is to visit the Frida Kahlo Museum (La Casa Azul) in Mexico City. After last week's poem about a newborn, this poem is about death. It's also a Golden Shovel, featuring watermelons and a quote from Frida's journal just a few days before her death. Normally I would steer clear of choosing a striking line with awkward ending-line words like "the" and "is." But it's Frida! And I love the quote. So I decided to roll with it. Thanks so much for reading.

Watermelon, you

are sweet, and I

am red with hunger and hope.

You crack yourself open while I fold into the

corner of wanting. Won't you show me the exit?

Teach me how to hold the sun when the day is

anything but joyful.

- Irene Latham

p.s. Question for the hive: Do you prefer the striking line to be in bold, or not?

Nightmare Jones by Shannon Bramer

 Hello and welcome to Poetry Friday! Be sure to visit Robyn at Life on the Deckle Edge for Roundup.

  Quick question for the Poetry Friday community: are any of you accepting members in your poetry critique groups? Or do you know of groups who are accepting members? (Asking for a striving children's poet!) Please reply to my email irene (at) irenelatham (dot) com. Thank you!

Also: this week's Tuesday 2-Minute Writing Tip #26 is something I shared at Boyds Mills (Highlights) Poetry Palooza: a poem is a bird (not a birdcage). Click here to listen!

Today I'm excited to welcome Shannon Bramer to Live Your Poem! I fell in love with Shannon's work when I read her first book Climbing Shadows (illus. by Cindy Derby, House of Anansi/Groundswood Press, 2019). Read my blog post here. Shannon's voice is entirely her own, and her poems are full of surprises, which I love! 

Shannon hails from Canada. She's also a mom and a playwright. She doesn't have a website (yet!). The illustrator Irene Luxbacher, who worked on Shannon's book Robot, Unicorn, Queen, inspired "Auntie Irene" (!!) in one of my favorite poems in Shannon's newest collection, Nightmare Jones, illus. by Cindy Derby, House of Anansi/Groundswood Press, 2025. The poem is called "Dollhouse Spiders."

poem by Shannon Bramer; illus. by Cindy Derby

Dollhouse Spiders

Aunt Irene is finer than fine;

she keeps them as pets.

A brown recluse; a few clowns —

a tirade of tiny bird spiders, a trickle

of starlight spiders going up

and down the stairs; Auntie Irene

listens to them, she hears their legs click

on the tiny windows, the woosh

of unraveling silk when they work

on their webs. At night there is

tinkling on the keys of the dollhouse

piano, the ghosts of gone spiders

in spindly shadows on the moonlit

walls. I shrink myself down to the size

of a spider at sleepovers

with Auntie I. We listen.

We love the splendid spider music.

- Shannon Bramer

Y'all: I am an "Auntie I" so of course I loved seeing my name featured in such a brilliant poem! 

(Aside: have you read The Winter of the Dollhouse by Laura Amy Schlitz? Wonderful!!)

And now, please welcome Shannon Bramer! Find below her responses to four simple prompts inspired by my book Fresh Delicious: Poems from the Farmer's Market (coming in paperback April 7, 2026!), about her new book Nightmare Jones. Enjoy!

FRESH

Shannon Bramer

SB: I've been writing poems since I was eleven years old, and I remember vividly the wonder and anxiety of getting a fresh notebook, how natural and urgent it was for me to write, but also what came with it--a pang of stress, thinking about how my words might also somehow sully the perfect, empty pages of the new book. It is still that way for me today; writing poems can sometimes feel like treading on freshly fallen snow. I have a fear of the mess I might make on the undisturbed landscape, that what I might write might expose some mistake in my thinking, the flaws in my heart. At the same time, I have always felt comforted by the infinite patience of the empty page; knowing it would always be there for me, waiting, without judgment. Nightmare Jones is a book of poems that makes room for all the tension inside me as a writer and human being. I felt nervous and uncertain writing many of the poems in the book, facing some of my feelings and exploring childhood images, worries, and thoughts that have followed me into adulthood. But that was the point of it: it's all allowed--the joy, the play, the discomfort as well. It all belongs in poetry. When I wrote Nightmare Jones, I felt like a bus driver, pulling over at every stop and letting every strange character and complicated feeling I met in for the ride.

DIFFICULT

SB: I miss being in the world of Nightmare Jones. Badlonely, Auntie Irene, the wonderous mermaid-like creature Cindy Derby illuminated so perfectly for "If She Was a Monster"--all the characters in the book are so deeply lovable to me that I'm finding it challenging to move on to another project.

Cindy Derby is a puppeteer and has an extensive background in theatre; in Nightmare Jones, Cindy's illustrations are as mysterious and suggestive as a theatrical set. I have a little dream to bring Nightmare Jones to life on stage somehow; in my mind, I see enormous puppets, glittering monsters high up on stilts, and a child that is the boss of it all. The child pulls all the strings.

DELICIOUS

SB: Words are my favourite food...but when I'm not writing, I love cooking for my family. I love discovering a new recipe or digging up an old one, figuring out a change or adaptation I might make if I don't have all the ingredients on hand. I also enjoy dining out very much, especially lunch, because lunch reminds me of my grandmother, who took me out often on weekends when I visited her. One of my favourite things about visiting a restaurant is investigating the menu. A menu is such a gorgeous and revealing artifact. I delight in all the menus--the busy, sticky menus--the austere, elegant menus--because a menu is the table of contents of a restaurant, there is history in a menu, stories, and sometimes even lies (sorry, we used to offer that but we don't anymore!). When the idea for a restaurant in the underworld popped up in my mind for Nightmare Jones--I ran with it. The poem is simply entitled "Welcome to Persephone's" and it's where to go if you'd like some Hurt Thoughts Soda with Frozen Rosehips or some Deep-Fried Questions with Red Ripper Sauce. Someday I'd like to write an entire book of menu poems for imaginary restaurants. My eleven-year-old son is convinced my next book will be a "funny but poetic" cookbook (about pickles!?).

ANYTHING ELSE

SB: 

yellow crab spider

Eight Legs: The Story of Dollhouse Spiders

1.

I'm scared of spiders because I can feel them thinking.

2.

I met a thumb-sized wolf spider one morning while making my bed in a small sleeping cabin in Northern Ontario, Canada. It's likely, or at least very possible, that the spider had been in bed with me all night.

3.

I was writing and re-writing a poem called "Dollhouse Spiders" for a new book I had already titled Nightmare Jones. While I was writing I was thinking about my friend, Irene. I wanted someone to be with me inside that poem, so I chose her.

4.

I shook the sheets to urge the wolf out of my bed, but I did not try to kill it. I let it go. (It might come back.)

kiddos with Irene Luxbacher

5.

The name Irene is derived from the Greek word for peace. Auntie I is the brave teacher in each of our own hearts, the one who chooses curiosity and wonder over fear. Deep Underwater, by Irene Luxbacher, is about finding peace deep inside yourself. It's also how I found Auntie I.

6.

You can be scared of something beautiful. You can be terrified. Sometimes you need someone beside you.

7.

The elegant black spider, in that moment of emerging and being spotted by me, froze, as I did, and we saw each other.

Small Shannon

8.

In the universe of Dollhouse Spiders the child is little Shanny (me!) and I choose my family. I choose a sleepover with Auntie I, who always makes me feel safe. We listen. We love the splendid spider music.

THANK YOU, SHANNON! Splendid spider music, indeed! 

Y'all, don't miss Shannon's books. They are special!

Now for today's ArtSpeak: WOMEN. The next artist on the Harper's Bazaar list is Harlem Renaissance sculptor Augusta Savage. Her work is amazing! It would have been fun to write a poem today about a spider or a dollhouse, but when I looked at the online offerings of Augusta's work, I was drawn to her sculpture of a new baby. I'm lucky that my good friend Pat often shares pics of her two great-grandbabies (and two more on the way!), so I have the sweetness of infants often in my life! 

Process notes: I started this poem as a tricube. I've written a lot of tricubes, and last week Amy LV at the Poem Farm urged us to Try Try Try a Tricube. But I needed more lines, so I let the poem break free from the tricube form (I was finding the baby in the stone, just like Augusta!). The tricube work did leave me with mostly 3-syllable lines and some enjambment that I really like: "you, my heart," so YAY! Thanks so much for reading.

To a Newborn

You've crash-
landed in a blue
universe

your cheeks—round
ears—perfect
seashells

your bright eyes
blink-blinking

when I hold
you, my heart
finds its orbit

o small Star,
welcome!
You are home!

-Irene Latham

Can Poems Fall in Love?

Hello and Happy Poetry Friday! Be sure to visit Molly at Nix the Comfort Zone for Roundup.

Exciting news: next week Shannon Bramer will be here to talk about her book Nightmare Jones (illus. by Cindy Derby)!

For today I've got a new Tuesday 2-Minute Writing Tip for you...and it was inspired by a Mary Lee Hahn poem she shared on a Poetry Friday post last year. Thanks, Mary Lee!

It's February, which means hearts are everywhere! Perhaps that's why today's ArtSpeak: WOMEN poem is a love poem of sorts. It's also a color poem because I was stuck, so I pulled out my Sherwin-Williams color chip case. (Every poet should have one, yes?)

I "matched" colors with the colors on this gorgeous Georgia O'Keeffe piece, and voila! Thanks so much for reading.

On the Day This Poem Fell in Love

the world was briny,
cloudless

sky streaked with gaiety
and knockout orange

earth pulsing green vibes
tipped with the taste

of juneberry—
that free spirit of the forest—

and every canyon yawned
freshwater and rapture blue

- Irene Latham

Someday You Will Become a Swan poem

 Hello and Happy Poetry Friday! Be sure to visit Amy at The Poem Farm for Roundup.

This has been a big week! After weeks of reading and discussing and poem-shuffling, Charles and I made our final selections for our forthcoming anthology The Periodic Table of Poetry! It's a bittersweet thing, because while the YES emails are so happy and celebratory, it's hard to say NO to so many wonderful poems written by wonderful poets! Whatever email you got from us, we hope you know how much we appreciate you sharing your poetry with us. 💗

Congratulations to all the ALAYMA winners! I always love watching the live-stream, and this year was no exception. I keep my library request window open during the broadcast so I can order the books I missed right away.

If you write or read historical fiction, please check out the Tuesday 2-Minute Writing Tip 24: The Art of Informed Imagination. I talk about gaps in research, and how to fill them in!

This week's ArtSpeak: WOMEN features a piece by the third artist on the Harper's Bazaar list: Swedish artist and mystic Hilma af Klint. I love this piece. And I've been reading A LOT of Barbara Crooker poems lately, so no wonder this one has veered into the adult space. Thanks so much for reading!

Someday You Will Become a Swan

Didn’t I tell you?
No, because no one can
fathom the pond: peaceful,
yes. But all that endless
circling!

And feathers? You can't keep
them clean. It takes at least five
lifetimes to learn how to be
                 content
and another to understand
you're not beautiful
because everyone looks at you—

You only become beautiful
when you look at yourself
in waters muddy or sparkling,
rippled or still
and decide you love all of it:

the beauty and the mess,
the light and the dark,
               the now
and everything
that brought you here.

- Irene Latham

A Good Morning for Giddo by Dahlia Constantine and Irene Latham

 Hello and Happy Poetry Friday! Be sure to visit Tabatha at The Opposite of Indifference for Roundup.

I invite you to check out your Tuesday 2-Minute Writing Tip 23 "3 More Mindset Shifts for Writers." You can find it and all the episodes in the series at my YouTube channel. More episodes coming!

Also: have you heard this call for funny poems? If you haven't yet met Eric Peterson, let me assure you that he's a good guy with a big heart and a love of children's poetry! Here's the flyer for his Open Call, and you can find out more at his website sillysociety.org.

Now for some book news! In addition to For the Win: Poems Celebrating Phenomenal Athletes, the third curated-by-Latham/Waters poetry anthology, I have another picture book collaboration coming this spring: A Good Morning for Giddo, written by Dahlia Hamza Constantine and Irene Latham, illustrations by Basma Hosam, coming from Nancy Paulsen Books/ Penguin Random House on April 7, 2026.

("Giddo" is how many Egyptian families refer to a grandfather.) The first review has dropped, from Kirkus, and it's a lovely one:

"Constantine and Latham weave a tale that teaches the values of compassion and the importance of slowing down to enjoy the simple pleasures, while simultaneously offering an exploration of the ancient Egyptian arts of calligraphy, abalone inlay, and tentmaking. A special highlight is the theme of language as a cultural touchstone, where even a greeting like “Good morning with roses and jasmine” is a small act of kindness and care. Hosam’s bold and colorful illustrations capture the hustle and bustle of Old Cairo market’s narrow, winding streets. A joyous celebration of Egyptian art and culture and special family bonds."

Dahlia Constantine & Irene Latham

Dahlia and I met when we both served on the NCTE Charlotte Huck Award for Outstanding Fiction for Children committee. We bonded over books and so many other things...and then we wrote a book together. Pre-order links are live! More on this adventure very soon.

Today's ArtSpeak: WOMEN features (again!) Mary Cassatt! I wrote after her last week, and I found a second piece that wouldn't let me go. And it's fitting, as Somaya, the little girl in A Good Morning for Giddo, loves to stitch! BUT not every girl loves stitching as much as Somaya...so I wrote another version for the anti-sewing kid... :) Thanks so much for reading. 

The Crochet Lesson

Mama says
stitching
helps
when you
are wanting,
wishing

but all
I am wanting,
wishing
right now
is an end
to this
ridiculous
finger-twist
stitching.

- Irene Latham

The Crochet Lesson

Mama says
stitching
helps
when you
are wanting,
wishing

but what
could I possibly
be wanting,
wishing
when Mama
is sitting
with me—just 

me!
simply listening
and stitching?

- Irene Latham

The Dream Builder's Blueprint by Alice Faye Duncan

Hello and Happy Poetry Friday! Be sure to visit Jan at bookseedstudio for Roundup.

I'm excited to welcome picture book author and poet Alice Faye Duncan to the blog today to talk about her new book The Dream Builder's Blueprint: Dr. King's Message to Young People, illus. by E.B. Lewis (Penguin Random House), which is perfect for Martin Luther King Day (and anytime!).

Before we get to that, quick reminder: You're invited to check out your Tuesday 2-Minute Writing Tip 22 "3 Mindset Shifts for Writers." You can find it (and the first 21 episodes) at my YouTube channel. More episodes coming!

Alice Faye Duncan

Okay. As is the tradition here at Live Your Poem, I've invited Alice Faye to respond to 4 simple prompts as they relate to her new book The Dream Builder's Blueprint, which is basically blackout/erasure poetry after one of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s speeches, presented in picture book format. Cool, yes?

I, of course, have much love for found poetry. In addition to my collection This Poem is a Nest, which features 161 "nestlings" found within one long poem, I have several other "found" poetry projects I look forward to sharing about in the near future! So I was thrilled and delighted to hear about this new book. Yay for publishers supporting this kind of wordplay, and for poets like Alice Faye being willing to play.

Without further ado, here's Alice Faye!

FRESH

wee Alice Faye

AFD:  Thank you for this invitation to speak about poetry. I have loved the power of words ever since 1st grade, the year I learned to read in Mrs. Bettye Johnson's classroom. Thirty years ago, I used that love to write my first picture book, WILLIE JEROME (Macmillan). From then until now, my goal has been to wield words differently from each  previous book. With THE DREAM BUILDER'S BLUEPRINT, I wanted to explore Dr. King's visit to Philadelphia during 1967. At that time, it was a season of social unrest like now. Dr. King spoke with 900 students at Barratt Junior High. He encouraged them with a blueprint for progress. He said, "KEEP MOVING." How could I share King's timely message in a captivating way? BINGO! I made a  new creation. I transformed Dr. King's 1,700 words into an erasure poem composed of 270 words. My poem is now an inspiring affirmation for children in 2026. It is a lyrical "commencement" chorus and speech for graduates who are 5 years old to 100. My literary agent said to me, "This is a fresh idea."

DIFFICULT 

AFD: Finding my voice and rhythm within Dr. King's thunderous message was a challenge.  I made more than 50 photocopies of the speech. This allowed me to erase text, reconnect words, and erase again, until at last, I "unearthed" an impactful poem to inspire children today. First, I used white typing tape to erase my text, but it proved finicky and inconsistent. I also tried using a white acrylic pen. It splattered like paint and was not effective. After many trials, I discovered that typing fluid with a sponge brush were perfect for erasing text. I exhausted seven bottles in the process. To avoid damaging floors, desks, and chairs, protect these areas with newsprint or drop cloth before you draft your erasure poem. The whole process can be chaotic and messy. This brings me  to the primary message in THE DREAM BUILDER'S BLUEPRINT.  In everything that we pursue, Dr. King said, "PLAN." He also said to practice excellence, celebrate yourself, and when times turn tough, don't stop. KEEP GOING.

DELICIOUS 

AFD: There came a time in the writing process when I needed to bring clarity to my text. I had photocopied Dr. King's speech on poster-sized paper.  It was late in the evening. All the words blurred my vision as I had poured over the speech for several hours that day. I needed one poetic line that was dynamic, definitive, and determined. I needed one poetic line that could unite all children under the banner of their differences, and lead them to sing the same song for democracy and freedom for all. I searched for what my college professor called a "penultimate line."  Then somewhere between midnight and twilight, I found it. Dr. King said, "Let nobody stop us." BINGO! These four words gave my erasure poem a resounding ring for freedom. It was not the "next to last verse" in my new creation. But, this line made the poem complete, giving it a shining note, reflective of the resistance required to preserve gratitude, compassion, and liberation in all places.  

ANYTHING ELSE  

AFD: Children will be what they see. Children imitate what adults do. Our opinions turn into the blueprints for their lives. So, make it a point to be Light. In your speech, writing, and daily life, be a symbol of goodwill. Show me a mean-spirited child and I will show you their mean-spirited parent. Some homes house hurtful and uncaring big people. To negate this harm, children need literary models of kindness, dignity, and self-respect. Sometimes, it takes just one good book to soothe the pain that a child has survived. Be mindful of this as you live in the world with others. Be mindful of this as you write. Lastly, my
second new book for 2026 is BLUES BOY -- THE B.B. KING STORY. Born in Mississippi and made famous across America and around the world, B.B. King used his guitar like a poet. His blues music was a balm of grace and good times for every listener. During these troubling times, children need Dr. King's blueprint for progress, and they need B.B. King's music for inspiration and joy. For these purposes, please share these books with young learners in your care. Thank you! More information is available at www.alicefayeduncan.com. 

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So many thanks to Alice Faye for stopping by! Don't miss the book. You're going to love it.

Today's ArtSpeak: WOMEN features a favorite artist of mine: Mary Cassatt! One of the few women Impressionists, Mary was known for her mother and child scenes, and her frequent model was her sister Lydia.

Aside: there's a new book on my TBR list, called The Cassatt Sisters by Lisa Groen. Can't wait! Meanwhile, I have written after Mary Cassatt's work many times. Here's a quick (incomplete) sampling:

Yellow Dress

The Letter

Call Me Zinnia

Beach Time

On the Water

For Lydia

Today's poem features Lydia reading the newspaper, and it's written in my fall-back form, the triolet. Correction: a variation of a triolet. I just can't bring myself to keep those lines exactly the same...my aesthetic demands a poem move! Fittingly, this poem is also a call to action. Thanks so much for reading.

Woman Reading the Morning News

When I scan the news each morning
I think: what can I do?
So many stories leave me reeling, mourning—
still, I scan the news each morning,
eyes smarting, heart storming.
I give the world my attention. I say: I see you.
When I scan the news each morning
I stop thinking. Time to rise. To feel. To do.

- Irene Latham