"Glorious Girl" by Mimi Deitrich |
Once again, this Friday has me traveling. But it's all good -- I am talking about many of the things I love: books and quilts and writing and history and family... I'm grateful to be invited to share these things with groups of all ages.
Tomorrow I will be in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, sharing with a quilt group and also signing at Ernest and Hadley Books. Roll Tide! (says the Auburn fan. :)
Mimi & her quilt (and my poem) |
I selected a quilt, of course! "Glorious Girl" by Mimi Deitrich (pictured above). Not only do I love the colors in the quilt, the quilting, but it also contains a line from THE SECRET LIFE OF BEES. I knew instantly that's what I wanted to write about! (Thank you, Laura, for sharing the pictures from the opening reception with me!) And here is my poem:
To a Glorious Girl
Girl, just look at your glorious
brown-black-pink-tan-pale-freckled-red
skin,
your smile your teeth
your hands your knees –
the way you think
the way you speak
and all the things you do –
No one else in the world
is exactly like you,
glorious you!
Sometimes it may seem
like the world is growing colder.
Hold tight, glorious girl,
tomorrow will be better.
And when you say to your best friend,
you can do it; I'll be right beside
you,
turn around and say those same words
to those glorious eyes ears chin
wrapped in that glorious
brown-black-pink-tan-pale-freckled-red
skin
you see in the mirror.
- Irene Latham
Love the way you use the quilt and describe the skin. I feel part of your poem. That is magic. We girls need to read more poems like this one. And fewer magazines telling us how to be size zero and please our ______. Happy Mother's Day! Long may your light shine on us.
ReplyDeleteYour poem fits for Tabata's post today, Irene, and for Mother's Day, too. Celebrating all the "Glorious Girls" this time of year is a good thing to do.
ReplyDeleteHow beautiful.
ReplyDelete"Sometimes it may seem
like the world is growing colder.
Hold tight, glorious girl,
tomorrow will be better."
This sounds absolutely like something my mother would say to me - she still calls me her little girl, even at 33 years of age. :)
What a glorious poem for all the glorious girls out there! Your poem makes me remember and celebrate my daughter in so many ways as she is setting out on her own adventures now.
ReplyDeleteWhat an empowering poem you've stitched together from all that is wonderful, you glorious girl!
ReplyDeleteIt's a little different to the adorable Adélie poem of yours that I'm sharing on my blog today. #sweetlove
Oh, how I love this poem. I want to print it out for each of my girl students to take home in their summer writing journals.
ReplyDeleteThere's power here, Irene! Happy Mother's Day to you too. :)
ReplyDeleteIn these days of cyber bullying where even innocent friendship is tainted with online insecurity, gossip and jealousy, girls sure need to hear something like this! Beautiful and empowering!
ReplyDeleteThis is beautiful. So much to love.
ReplyDeleteI love your poem Irene, it's speaks to everyone, and just one, and all glorious girls. I like the visual images in it too! Happy Mother's Day!
ReplyDeleteAMEN!!
ReplyDeleteWonderful message for those glorious girls out there! Quilting fascinates me, although I do not do it myself. Have you read Tracy Chevalier's The Last Runaway? Wonderful quilting theme woven into the fabric of that story. -- Christie @ https://wonderingandwondering.wordpress.com/blog/
ReplyDeleteCool that you participated in the Blossoms of Hope exhibit (and with a quilt, no less)! Laura inspired me to do it, too. It was a fun challenge. Happy Mother's Day! xo
ReplyDeleteThese words, this affirmation is what the world needs now. I love the word glorious--I need to connect this word with Keisha's prompt. Thank you, Irene
ReplyDelete