ARTSPEAK! 2016: Poem #13 "Anticipation (in the Garden)"

Welcome to day 13 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 Linda at TeacherDance 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:

"Gathering Fruit" after Gathering Fruit by Mary Cassatt
"Bread's Lament" after Boy with Basket of Fruit by an unknown American artist
"After the Fire" after Ruined Farm by Hubert Robert
"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 poem is another love poem of sorts. I wasn't sure what exactly to do with George Moore in the Artist's Garden by Eduoard Manet, so I gave him some feelings. About the garden. :) He looks like a nice enough fellow, doesn't he?

Anticipation (in the Garden)

The seeds are in,

the sun beams down

rain has pitter-pattered

the gentle mounds –

and still no vines,

no cascading flowers.

When, oh when

will the leaves unfurl?

When will the tiny fruits

drape like pearls?

Not now, not yet.

Soon:

my garden may be shy,

but I am a patient suitor.

- Irene Latham
Listen to the poem on Soundcloud!