Friday, February 26, 2016

For the Love of Words -- and BIRDS

Hello and Happy Poetry Friday! Be sure to visit lovely Liz at Elizabeth Steinglass for Roundup.

I'm especially excited to be here today because it's my birthday! Cheesecake for everyone!!!

As a gift to myself, I've invited my kind, talented poet-friend Amy Ludwig VanDerwater to come talk poetry and birds with me! Isn't The Poem Farm one of the most wonder-filled websites ever? I love learning from Amy and especially enjoy her fun, wise, gentle voice. And now readers of all ages have more Amy to love: please join me in celebrating the release of her latest book EVERY DAY BIRDS, now in flight from Orchard/Scholastic, with illustrations by Dylan Metrano.

Welcome, Amy!!

Please share a childhood memory that includes a bird or birds.

I remember caring for a robin with a hurt wing when I was four or five years old. Although I was sad that the bird was injured, I was happy to have it close and still in a box, where I could watch and “care for it” under the guidance of my mom and dad. I think that this bird died but also remember that my parents told me it had healed and flown away. They were gentle people, and I was young. This story reminds me of the beautiful and true book, THE DEAD BIRD, written by Margaret Wise Brown and illustrated by Remy Charlip.

Birds often appear in poems. Why do you think poets are attracted to birds, and what prompted YOU to write about birds?

Well, the fact that ‘bird’ rhymes with ‘word’ is quite compelling! Seriously, I have come to appreciate birds through the example of my husband Mark, who knows so much about these feathery creatures. From him, I have learned that we enlarge our worlds by the company we keep. Our passions often grow from passions of those we love. This is why I believe that passionate teachers matter greatly – they inspire fascination and curiosity in children.

As for why poets like birds so much, I believe that the glory of flight draws us in. Birds are small and mighty. They travel, and they make swooping motions in the sky, just as we make swooping marks on paper, not quite sure of where we will go. Birds and writing: both speak to the free part of our spirits.


What species of bird do you most identify with (OR: wish you were more like)?
I would like to think that I am something cute and tough, like a chickadee. But others might say I am like an annoying parrot who keeps on talking when I should be quiet!


What species of bird do you see every day at The Poem Farm?
We see many chickadees, tufted titmice, tree sparrows, cardinals, and a few kinds of woodpeckers. (red bellied, hairy, pileated, and downy) . We have blue jays, goldfinches, and many red tailed hawks. We see vultures and crows and others too. I love to watch our feeders, and I am thankful to Mark for keeping them full. When I am home alone writing, these small birds are my friends.




Anything else you would like to share?

Two not-to-miss bird picture books include SUBWAY SPARROW written and illustrated by Leyla Torres and WELCOME, BROWN BIRD, written by Mary Lyn Ray and illustrated by Peter Sylvada. I love stories about birds; they are endlessly interesting and mysterious.







If I were a bird, I would fly to Alabama to give you a birthday hug! Thank you, my dear friend, for having me here today. xoxo
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Wasn't that fun?! Click here for an older post of Valerie Worth poems about birds. And now, an original bird poem that appears in my book of poems for adults THE SKY BETWEEN US:

Life Without Birds

You appear just before dawn
to ask what it’s like
without you. I push through

the quicksand, gauging
the weight of forest
as it presses against my body,

a whole country of spruce,
pine, and cedar surrounding me.
I don’t want to burden you

with what you’ve done,
so I say I miss the birds.
Is there any deeper truth?

No wings flashing from
blackberry brambles,
no careful nest in the eaves,

no graceful, raucous Vs.
The loss of song
is the part I won’t admit,

no matter how tenderly
you press your fingers
against my eyelids.

- Irene Latham
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Hear me read it on Soundcloud! (For some reason the embed code isn't working...grr)

25 comments:

  1. How fitting for this morning! Kelso was barking away and I looked out to see why and there was a huge blue heron in the tree overlooking our fish pond.

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  2. Oh, what a tender and beautiful poem. Happy birthday to a writer and friend I admire so much...you are good at both, like Charlotte. Thank you for letting me celebrate with you!! xxoo

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    1. Thank YOU, Amy! Such a treat to share this day with you. xo

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  3. Happy birthday, Irene! It's my birthday, too!

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    1. Dear Ruth, my birthday buddy! I hope you are having a lovely day. So happy to share it with you! xo

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  4. Happy Birthday Irene. What a lovely post about Amy's beautiful book for your celebration. And the poem you wrote is lovely, "no careful nest in the eaves" in a connection to think about. I have Amy's book and it is wonderful, will be special for my granddaughters!

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    1. Yes, Linda, your granddaughters will become birders (and poets!) with this book! xo

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  5. Happy Birthday, Irene! I also wrote about Amy's new book today and yours too! I hope you're having a lovely day! Save me some of that cheesecake! : )

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    1. Yay, Linda! I am stopping over at your place next. xo

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  6. Irene, Happy Birthday to you. Your poem draws me in as you read it so beautifully. Thank you for your gentle spirit and for recognizing that Amy has one too. Doesn't this line from the interview just sing to you of flight? "Birds and writing: both speak to the free part of our spirits."

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    1. Yes, Carol, Amy is a fountain, isn't she?? So many beautiful words... such truth. Thank you for visiting!

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  7. Happy Birthday! How kind of you to share your gift with all of us. And cheesecake too? Thank you! I love Subway Sparrow for so many reasons. I think I read it hundreds of times and hoped I was pronouncing all the languages even remotely okay.

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    1. Liz, I haven't had a chance to read Subway Sparrow yet, but between your lovely endorsement, and Amy's, it sounds not-to-be-missed!

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  8. Happy birthday, dear Irene! I too am sending a hug on the wings of birds. You came up with such interesting questions for Amy and, of course, her answers were true to character– that "fun, wise, gentle voice" as you say. Your own lovely bird poem swept me away.

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    1. Thank you, Michelle, my fellow February birthday friend. xo

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  9. Happy Birthday, Irene - and you have gifted us today with this marvelous interview with Amy, and your lovely poem, too. We are lucky this Poetry Friday!

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  10. I'm so glad I visited as Amy suggested. What a great blog. Happy birthday!

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  11. What a wonderful way to celebrate your bird-day...uh...BIRTHday! Hope it was a happy one!

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  12. Happy Birthday, Irene! I love Amy's new book and this interview is terrific. Your poem is lovely but heart-breaking. I will carry this piece of wisdom with me: "We enlarge our worlds by the company we keep." Thank you for enlarging my world!

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  13. (Late) Happy Birthday, Irene! Your poem about life without birds is the perfect and thoughtful conclusion of this lovely interview with Amy.

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  14. Happy (even later) Birthday, Lovely Friend! And yay that we get to celebrate with Amy and her new Birds too! (Got my copy this week,) You are each "wise and wonderful" -- thanks for sharing your words and wings. XO

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  15. What a charming glimpse into Amy's birdbrain, and yours, too, Irene. Happy birdday!

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  16. Sounds like a book after my own heart. I love to watch swifts dart over soccer fields, and sparrows flitting in and out of eaves (except my own) and great blue herons taking off over a pond. A Brewer's blackbird has more color in his dark feathers than I have in my closet. Can't wait to read this one. And that's a lovely, sad and tender poem, Irene.

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  17. Happy Belated Birthday, Irene! Sorry I'm late to the party. So enjoyed this chat with Amy -- I love watching birds too -- what a sweet story about the injured robin.

    Thanks for sharing your lovely poem too!

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  18. Happy book birthday, Amy! And happy birthday, Irene! Thanks for the interview, ladies. Can't wait to read the book! Loved your adult poem, Irene. :-)

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