Tuesday, April 30, 2019

ARTSPEAK: Happy! poem "Yosemite Morning" by Irene Latham

Hello and welcome to the final post in ARTSPEAK: Happy! my 2019 National Poetry Month poem a day project, in which I am responding to pieces of art that make me happy. Read why in my introductory post.

I have loved this series. What a great way to start my day! I look forward to revising some of these, and I appreciate so much all of your encouraging comments along the way. THANK YOU. 

Poems so far in ARTSPEAK: Happy!:
Girl in a Yellow Dress after "A Girl in a Yellow Dress, 1917" by Amedeo Modigliani
When the Stars Come to Town after "Cafe Terrace at Night" by Vincent van Gogh
On a Golden Day in May after "Checkered House" by Grandma Moses
Beach Time after "Children Playing on the Beach" by Mary Cassatt
The Weight of Happiness after "Flower Seller" by Diego Rivera
By the Sea "Coastal Scene with Gulls" by Maud Lewis
Sister Song after an untitled piece by Henry Darger
Two Cows after "2 Cows" by Maud Lewis
Girl in Hat after "Girl in Hat" by Norman Lewis
Backstage after "Dancers in Green and Yellow" by Edgar Degas. 
"So Many Suns" after Kohbar of Mithila
"To an Olive Tree" after Olive Trees with Yellow Sky and Sun by Vincent van Gogh
"Three Black Cats" after Three Black Cats by Maud Lewis
"When Grandma Reads" after Mrs. Cassatt Reading to her Grandchildren by Mary Cassatt
"On a June Afternoon" after Pigeon on a Peach Branch by Emperor Huizong
"On the Water" after On the Water by Mary Cassatt
"Autumn Prayer" after Red Vineyard at Arles by Vincent van Gogh
"Julie Manet with Cat" by Pierre-Auguste Renoir
"When a Horse Writes a Poem" after Horse Head on a Yellow Background 1953 by Fernand Leger.
"Fiddle Song" after The Fiddler by Marc Chagall
"A Dream of Yellow" after Tree Against a Yellow Background by Odilon Redon
"The Letter" after The Letter by Mary Cassatt
"To a Sunflower" after Sunflowers by Vincent van Gogh
"Only in Summer" after The Yellow Boat by Gustave Caillebotte
"Wish I May, Wish I Might" after Starry Night Over the Rhone by Vincent van Gogh
"The Guitarist" after Girl in Yellow and Blue with a Guitar by Henri Matisse
"First Day of Autumn" after Wheat Fields with Cypresses by Vincent van Gogh
"Anticipation" after Woman with a Yellow Jacket by August Macke
"Yellow Irises" after Yellow Irises with Pink Cloud by Claude Monet

Today's piece is Valley of the Yosemite by Albert Bierstadt. Yosemite Valley is one of those spiritual places for me... and Paul and I will be visiting Yosemite this summer, so this is coming at a good time for me. :) This poem kind of went in an adult direction, as I remembered my last trip to Yosemite (with my father) but that's okay. Enjoy your virtual trip to Yosemite. :)
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Yosemite Morning
- after "Valley of Yosemite" by Albert Bierstadt

And the sun said, Good morning, mountains
and the rock faces blazed to be so acknowledged

deer drank from pristine pools of water,
bears grazed berries from the thickets

and we dared not blink for fear of wasting
the sun's welcome-to-the-world gaze –

a gift given so freely and so often,
yet we, caught in webs of our own making

so often fail to see –

but this morning, tucked in the valley of giants,
we praise the maker and the miracle

we lift our hearts to the sun,
we say, burn me

- Irene Latham



Be sure to check in with Donna at Mainely Write to read our complete Progressive Poem! Yay!
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Monday, April 29, 2019

ARTSPEAK: Happy! poem "Yellow Irises" by Irene Latham

Hello and welcome to ARTSPEAK: Happy! my 2019 National Poetry Month poem a day project, in which I am responding to pieces of art that make me happy. Read why in my introductory post.







*If you're looking for today's line (from me!) in our Progressive Poem, please click here.




Poems so far in ARTSPEAK: Happy!:
Girl in a Yellow Dress after "A Girl in a Yellow Dress, 1917" by Amedeo Modigliani
When the Stars Come to Town after "Cafe Terrace at Night" by Vincent van Gogh
On a Golden Day in May after "Checkered House" by Grandma Moses
Beach Time after "Children Playing on the Beach" by Mary Cassatt
The Weight of Happiness after "Flower Seller" by Diego Rivera
By the Sea "Coastal Scene with Gulls" by Maud Lewis
Sister Song after an untitled piece by Henry Darger
Two Cows after "2 Cows" by Maud Lewis
Girl in Hat after "Girl in Hat" by Norman Lewis
Backstage after "Dancers in Green and Yellow" by Edgar Degas. 
"So Many Suns" after Kohbar of Mithila
"To an Olive Tree" after Olive Trees with Yellow Sky and Sun by Vincent van Gogh
"Three Black Cats" after Three Black Cats by Maud Lewis
"When Grandma Reads" after Mrs. Cassatt Reading to her Grandchildren by Mary Cassatt
"On a June Afternoon" after Pigeon on a Peach Branch by Emperor Huizong
"On the Water" after On the Water by Mary Cassatt
"Autumn Prayer" after Red Vineyard at Arles by Vincent van Gogh
"Julie Manet with Cat" by Pierre-Auguste Renoir
"When a Horse Writes a Poem" after Horse Head on a Yellow Background 1953 by Fernand Leger.
"Fiddle Song" after The Fiddler by Marc Chagall
"A Dream of Yellow" after Tree Against a Yellow Background by Odilon Redon
"The Letter" after The Letter by Mary Cassatt
"To a Sunflower" after Sunflowers by Vincent van Gogh
"Only in Summer" after The Yellow Boat by Gustave Caillebotte
"Wish I May, Wish I Might" after Starry Night Over the Rhone by Vincent van Gogh
"The Guitarist" after Girl in Yellow and Blue with a Guitar by Henri Matisse
"First Day of Autumn" after Wheat Fields with Cypresses by Vincent van Gogh
"Anticipation" after Woman with a Yellow Jacket by August Macke

Today's piece is Yellow Irises with Pink Cloud by Claude Monet.


Yellow Irises
- after Yellow Irises with Pink Cloud by Claude Monet

wide-awake blooms
dutifully shine
across brightest hours

but when evening comes
they grab handfuls
of purple sky –

a surprise gift
for the next butterfly
who happens by

- Irene Latham



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Progressive Poem is HERE!


Can you believe it? We're almost to the end of our found-poem summer-song community poem journey.

*If you're looking for today's ARTSPEAK: Happy! poem (about Monet's irises!) , please click here.

Thank you to everyone who contributed a line, and to everyone who made our poem a part of their National Poetry Month festivities. And thanks to Matt for inviting us to challenge ourselves with found song lyrics... I'm surprised and impressed that everyone rose to this challenge... well done!

I've loved getting a peek inside everyone's music lives this month. I knew better than to think too much about my own song choice, because who knows where the poem will be when it finds me? But as soon as I read Liz's line, I knew what to do: ask my husband, who is a living, breathing jukebox! :)

We first started brainstorming lines that start with "Let's," because here we are at the end of the journey with Liz's "two"... we thought of "Let's stay together" and "Let's sing a song that makes the whole world happy"... but ideally this line will have some movement to help bring us more firmly to a close, to set up Donna's final line... and then we thought of "Let's Dance" by David Bowie! My favorite line in that song is the one about "this serious moonlight" -- which brings our poem firmly to the end of day, which is great! And the longer line allowed me to echo what Carol did back on the 16th. I look forward to reading Donna's closing line.

A big thanks to all who have been a part of this one! We still need a title, should anyone have an idea... xo

Progressive Poem 2019

Endless summer; I can see for miles…
Fun, fun, fun – and the whole world smiles.
No time for school- just time to play,
we swim the laughin’ sea each and every day.

You had only to rise, lean from your window,
the curtain opens on a portrait of today.
Kodachrome greens, dazzling blue,
it’s the chance of a lifetime,

make it last forever–ready? Set? Let’s Go!
Come, we’ll take a walk, the sun is shining down
Not a cloud in the sky, got the sun in my eyes
Tomorrow’s here. It’s called today.

Gonna get me a piece o’ the sky.
I wanna fly like an eagle, to the sea
and there’s a tiger in my veins.
Oh won’t you come with me waltzing the waves,
                                                       diving the deep?

It’s not easy to know
less than one minute old
we’re closer now than light years to go
To the land where the honey runs

…we can be anyone we want to be…
There’s no stopping curiosity.
What’s so amazing that keeps us stargazing
Looking for a sign of life

You’re simply the best
Hold my hand and we’ll be free
Have faith in you and the things you do
Multiply life by the power of two.

Let's sway -- under the moonlight, 
                                          this serious moonlight


Here is a list of line sources:

L1 The Who, ‘I Can See for Miles’/The Beach Boys, ‘Endless Summer’
L2 The Beach Boys, ‘Fun, Fun, Fun’/Dean Martin, ‘When You’re Smiling’
L3 The Jamies, ‘Summertime, Summertime’
L4 The Doors, Summer’s Almost Gone’/Led Zeppelin ‘Good Times, Bad Times’
L5 Ray Bradbury, “Dandelion Wine”
L6 Joni Mitchell, “Chelsea Morning”
L7 Paul Simon, “Kodachrome,” “Dazzling Blue”
L8 Dan Fogelberg, “Run for the Roses”
L9 Spice Girls, “Wannabe”/Will Smith, “Gettin’ Jiggy Wit It”
L10 The Beatles, “Good Day Sunshine”
L11 The Carpenters, “Top of the World”
L12 Lin-Manuel Miranda, “Underneath the Lovely London Sky” from Mary Poppins Returns
L13 Carole King, “Hi-de-ho (That Old Sweet Roll)”
L14 Steve Miller, “Fly Like An Eagle”
L15 Don Felder, “Wild Life”
L16 Nowleen Leeroy, “Song of the Sea” (lullaby)
L17 Sara Bareilles, “She Used to Be Mine” from WAITRESS
L18 Stevie Wonder, “Isn’t She Lovely”
L19 R.E.M., “Find the River”
L20 Carole King, “Way Over Yonder”
L21 Mint Juleps, “Groovin” by the Young Rascals
L22 Jack Johnson, “Upside Down”
L23 Kermit the Frog (Jim Henson) “Rainbow Connection” from the Muppet Movie
L24 The Foo Fighters, “Learning to Fly”
L25 Tina Turner, “The Best”
L26 The Partridge Family, “Summer Days”
L27 The Pointer Sister’s, “We Are Family”
L28 Indigo Girls, “Power of Two”
L29 David Bowie, "Let's Dance"

and the list of poets contributing lines this year:

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2 Kat @Kathryn Apel
4 Jone @DeoWriter
5 Linda @TeacherDance
8 Mary Lee @A Year of Reading
9 Rebecca @Rebecca Herzog
10 Janet F. @Live Your Poem
13 Doraine @Dori Reads
17 Amy @The Poem Farm
18 Linda @A Word Edgewise
20 Buffy @Buffy's Blog
21 Michelle @Michelle Kogan
22 Catherine @Reading to the Core
25 Jan @Bookseestudio
26 Linda @Write Time
27 Sheila @Sheila Renfro
29 Irene @Live Your Poem
30 Donna @Mainely Write

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Sunday, April 28, 2019

ARTSPEAK: Happy! poem "Anticipation" by Irene Latham

Hello and welcome to ARTSPEAK: Happy! my 2019 National Poetry Month poem a day project, in which I am responding to pieces of art that make me happy. Read why in my introductory post.

Poems so far:
Girl in a Yellow Dress after "A Girl in a Yellow Dress, 1917" by Amedeo Modigliani
When the Stars Come to Town after "Cafe Terrace at Night" by Vincent van Gogh
On a Golden Day in May after "Checkered House" by Grandma Moses
Beach Time after "Children Playing on the Beach" by Mary Cassatt
The Weight of Happiness after "Flower Seller" by Diego Rivera
By the Sea "Coastal Scene with Gulls" by Maud Lewis
Sister Song after an untitled piece by Henry Darger
Two Cows after "2 Cows" by Maud Lewis
Girl in Hat after "Girl in Hat" by Norman Lewis
Backstage after "Dancers in Green and Yellow" by Edgar Degas. 
"So Many Suns" after Kohbar of Mithila
"To an Olive Tree" after Olive Trees with Yellow Sky and Sun by Vincent van Gogh
"Three Black Cats" after Three Black Cats by Maud Lewis
"When Grandma Reads" after Mrs. Cassatt Reading to her Grandchildren by Mary Cassatt
"On a June Afternoon" after Pigeon on a Peach Branch by Emperor Huizong
"On the Water" after On the Water by Mary Cassatt
"Autumn Prayer" after Red Vineyard at Arles by Vincent van Gogh
"Julie Manet with Cat" by Pierre-Auguste Renoir
"When a Horse Writes a Poem" after Horse Head on a Yellow Background 1953 by Fernand Leger.
"Fiddle Song" after The Fiddler by Marc Chagall
"A Dream of Yellow" after Tree Against a Yellow Background by Odilon Redon
"The Letter" after The Letter by Mary Cassatt
"To a Sunflower" after Sunflowers by Vincent van Gogh
"Only in Summer" after The Yellow Boat by Gustave Caillebotte
"Wish I May, Wish I Might" after Starry Night Over the Rhone by Vincent van Gogh
"The Guitarist" after Girl in Yellow and Blue with a Guitar by Henri Matisse
"First Day of Autumn" after Wheat Fields with Cypresses by Vincent van Gogh

Today's piece is "Woman with a Yellow Jacket" by August Macke. I decided my focus would be on the young girl (daughter?) beside the woman in the yellow jacket... at first I thought she was shy, and then I remembered this is to be a happy poem... and so I flipped it to be about anticipation of what's inside that door. (What's happier than anticipation?)


Anticipation
- after Woman in a Yellow Jacket by August Macke

she pulls
her mother
with her

as she hurls
toward
the open door –

two comet
melting
into the sun

-Irene Latham



Be sure to visit Liz Steinglass for the latest line in our Progressive Poem... and tomorrow is MY day! Yay!


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Saturday, April 27, 2019

ARTSPEAK: Happy! poem "Last Day of Summer" by Irene Latham

Hello and welcome to ARTSPEAK: Happy! my 2019 National Poetry Month poem a day project, in which I am responding to pieces of art that make me happy. Read why in my introductory post.

Poems so far:
Girl in a Yellow Dress after "A Girl in a Yellow Dress, 1917" by Amedeo Modigliani
When the Stars Come to Town after "Cafe Terrace at Night" by Vincent van Gogh
On a Golden Day in May after "Checkered House" by Grandma Moses
Beach Time after "Children Playing on the Beach" by Mary Cassatt
The Weight of Happiness after "Flower Seller" by Diego Rivera
By the Sea "Coastal Scene with Gulls" by Maud Lewis
Sister Song after an untitled piece by Henry Darger
Two Cows after "2 Cows" by Maud Lewis
Girl in Hat after "Girl in Hat" by Norman Lewis
Backstage after "Dancers in Green and Yellow" by Edgar Degas. 
"So Many Suns" after Kohbar of Mithila
"To an Olive Tree" after Olive Trees with Yellow Sky and Sun by Vincent van Gogh
"Three Black Cats" after Three Black Cats by Maud Lewis
"When Grandma Reads" after Mrs. Cassatt Reading to her Grandchildren by Mary Cassatt
"On a June Afternoon" after Pigeon on a Peach Branch by Emperor Huizong
"On the Water" after On the Water by Mary Cassatt
"Autumn Prayer" after Red Vineyard at Arles by Vincent van Gogh
"Julie Manet with Cat" by Pierre-Auguste Renoir
"When a Horse Writes a Poem" after Horse Head on a Yellow Background 1953 by Fernand Leger.
"Fiddle Song" after The Fiddler by Marc Chagall
"A Dream of Yellow" after Tree Against a Yellow Background by Odilon Redon
"The Letter" after The Letter by Mary Cassatt
"To a Sunflower" after Sunflowers by Vincent van Gogh
"Only in Summer" after The Yellow Boat by Gustave Caillebotte
"Wish I May, Wish I Might" after Starry Night Over the Rhone by Vincent van Gogh
"The Guitarist" after Girl in Yellow and Blue with a Guitar by Henri Matisse

Today's piece is "Wheat Fields with Cypresses" by Vincent van Gogh.



Last Day of Summer
- after “Wheat Fields with Cypresses” by Vincent van Gogh

It's true: soon
green hills will fade
to brown

but cypress knows
today is not a day
to cry –

not when cotton candy
swirls the sky

and wheat fields wave
their golden hands,
goodbye,
                 goodbye!

 - Irene Latham

ETA: I think a better title for the poem might be "Last Day of Summer." Always editing....




Be sure to visit Sheila Renfro for the latest line in our Progressive Poem!
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