ARTSPEAK: Happy! poem "To an Olive Tree" & POETRY FRIDAY ROUNDUP

Hello and welcome to Poetry Friday Roundup! It's always an honor to host this gathering, especially during National Poetry Month! Be sure to leave your link below.

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It's been a busy month for me so far, as I'm sure it has been for all of you! I'm currently in Montgomery, Alabama, where Charles Waters and I are presenting with other fine authors at Alabama Book Festival. So I will keep my comments brief!

Have you seen the sweet book POETREE by Shauna Lavoy Reynolds, illus. by Shahrzad Maydani? A girl writes a poem to a tree... and the tree writes back!

So, when I saw which piece of art was up for me to write about today in my ARTSPEAK: Happy! series (basically I just populate a file and write on them in the order they appear in the file to save myself any angsting about which piece to write about each day!), I decided I, too, should write a poem to a tree.

 Before we get to that, click here Read why in my introductory post. Thank you so much for the comments on the series so far... you are helping me keep the happy juices flowing!

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

Today's piece is "Olive Trees with Yellow Sky and Sun" by Vincent van Gogh.

To an Olive Tree
- after "Olive Trees with Yellow Sky and Sun" by Vincent van Gogh

You sit squat and happy,

your gnarled branches

reaching across blazing sun,

no rain,

and herds of grazing goats.

You say, shine on me!

Come, or don't come.

Welcome.

For the hungry, you drop fruit.

For the troubled, you offer

a balm of oil.

For me, you share

a fallen twig

shaped exactly like a smile.

I spread my quilt

beneath your limbs

and rest for a while.

- Irene Latham

Be sure to visit Margaret at Reflections on the Teche for the latest line in our Progressive Poem!