ARTSPEAK! 2016: Poem #10 "After the Fire"

Welcome to day 10 of my National Poetry Month poem-a-day-project ARTSPEAK! in which I respond to images found in the online collections at the National Gallery of Art. Please join me, if you feel so inspired! 

But first, please visit Pat at Writer on a Horse to see how our Progressive Poem is progressing!

This year's ARTSPEAK! theme is "Plant. Grow Eat." It was inspired by the release of my latest book FRESH DELICIOUS: Poems from the Farmers' Market.

Here are the poems so far:

"Cow at the Gate" after Landscape with Open Gate by Pieter Molijin
"I Am the Plate" after Still Life with Milk Jug and Fruit by Paul Cezanne
"Courtship (According to the Cat)" by Winslow Homer
"Courage" after Planting Corn by Stanley Mazur
"Orchard Barber Shop" after Gardener Pruning a Tree by Jacques Callot
"Gardener's Companion" after The Watering Can by Georges Seurat

"Man, Reading" after Denoisel Reading in the Garden by James Tissot

"At the Vegetable Market" after Vegetable Market at Pontoise by Camille Pissarro

"Triolet for Planting Day" after The Artist's Garden at Eragny by Camille Pissarro

Today's piece was tough to write, in part, because I attended a funeral for my nephew, who was only 23. The day was filled with family and remembrances and sadness. This is a poem I will want to revisit in the future -- I do like its simplicity. BUT. We aim for specificity as poets, and using a word like "bird" isn't as strong as using a word like "owl" or "sparrow." But the way I set this poem up, a more specific word didn't work either... and then I ran out of time. As did my nephew. Sadness. But writing the poetry helps.

After the Fire

What is a farm

without a barn?

It is a body

without a heart.

What is the earth

without sky?

It is a bird

with no place to fly.

- Irene Latham

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