This year I am showering myself with compassion. One concrete way I am doing this is by transforming my annual National Poetry Month ARTSPEAK! project from a poem-a-day activity during April to a weekly installment on the blog. Today mark's the first poem! As you can see, I selected "red" as my theme. That evolved out of my choice of "red" as my One Little Word for 2020. Read more about why I chose "red" in this post. I'm curious to know your thoughts and impressions about the color red, and also if you have any favorite art pieces that feature red (and after which I might possible write poems!). Please share in comments!
And now, here's a red poem, inspired by the badge art for the series: "L'Atelier"(the studio) by Henri Matisse. I immediately thought: that's what it must look like inside my brain!
A Dream of Red
Inside my head
the walls are red –
paint drips, slips.
Projects unravel
for lack of thread.
Much remains
unformed,
unsaid.
Yet poems float
in this sea of red –
here I do what I want.
I build a boat,
mend a coat.
I spread red on toast
and eat it in bed.
(Strawberry dreams
ahead!)
The walls are red
inside my head.
- Irene Latham
Thanks for the glimpse inside your head! Looking forward to reading your ARTSPEAK! poems all year - what a treat!
ReplyDeleteThank you, Ruth! Wishing you strawberry (or whatever other delicious flavor dreams) you desire! xo
DeleteRed is my absolute favorite. A color of big joy for me. And yet, as I read your poem, I think about how all that energy sometimes makes my life feel a little chaotic. Hmmmmm......
ReplyDeleteYes, Carol, I can relate! An active mind means working hard to not be in it all the time and be in LIFE instead. xo
DeleteWow! I love that you are extending ART SPEAK and, RED throughout 2020. I always feel that I learn from you. And I do in this post! Just one painting? Yikes. I will share with you another Matisse. This painting spoke to me as my older teen and young twenties self before I could articulate that I knew I was artistic or creative. I didn't know why...but I needed to have a print of this painting. It simply called to me -- I didn't even have those words yet. And then, life...and so much learning and so much layering and I can now say I AM a creative and of COURSE art speaks to me and in me and through me. So, I suggest, Matisse's 'The Snail' https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/matisse-the-snail-t00540
ReplyDeleteI so look forward to your coming work.
Thank you, LInda -- I have never seen this Matisse before... adding it to my file and who knows?? I will let you know if I write on it. Thanks for stopping by. xo
DeleteIt will be wonderful to read your poems all the year, Irene. Red is my favorite color. Last year, I think, I took a challenge & posted a picture of something red I had found while "out" wandering around the city. It was fun to do & was surprising how many things were there. I love the idea of "Yet poems float
ReplyDeletein this sea of red –" & here you go into the new year! Have a wonderful 2020!
Linda, I love the sound of your red project! I am excited to see where it takes me... thanks for stopping by... and now I know your favorite color. :) :) :) xo
DeleteI love the idea of a color for the inside of your head. (I wonder what mine is!) I especially like the way your ending lines repeat (in reverse) the beginning. And "here I do what I want" is a delightful statement of independence.
ReplyDeleteThank you JoAnn! It seems those places we can do what we want are rare indeed... I wonder what your color is, too! xo
DeleteI love your poem ruminating on the inside of your head. Your creativity is inspiring! And your organization, too. A plan for every Friday! Where do you get the images from?
ReplyDeleteI posted your postcard poem today. Forgot to ask first. Forgiveness?
Margaret, so far I've just used google and searched "red art." A lot comes up! IN the past I have used the National Gallery of Art online collection, but they do not have color as one of their filters (which makes it too tedious). And you are welcome to share that poem! It's an oldie but a goodie. xo
DeleteOn my vision board for this year, "Keep a joyful song in your heart" is red (and gold). I featured red for Art Thursday once: https://tabathayeatts.blogspot.com/2017/03/red.html Maybe there will be something there for you to write about?
ReplyDeleteYes, Tabatha! Of course you've done a red art Thursday. :) :) :) I am saving this link and will let you know if I write on something you featured (which is quite likely). Thank you! xo
ReplyDeleteI'm so excited that we'll be seeing Artspeak weekly! I love your poem. I think the color inside my head would be yellow. Here are three red art pieces I like - Rothko's "Orange, Red, Yellow", O'Keefe's "Red Canna", and Miro's "The Red Sun". can't wait to see your poems each week.
ReplyDeleteI am bestirred by the rather radical choice of a color word as your One Little Word, Irene, and even moreso by your choice of RED. And as always I'm inspired by your thoughtful and organized approach to blogging/NPMonth/Artspeak. ("Perhaps this is how I'll be when I have done with full-time teaching," she said longingly.) But really I came here to say that your poem shared by Margaret, the skating one with its unmittened heart, just spun me right round! What a poem. Looking forward to a year of red!
ReplyDeleteI'm feeling a bit of a mind-meld with you! I didn't announce my word/word set, but it is my on-going almost a-poem-a-day-not-April project. Was that vague enough for you? Suffice it to say, a mind-meld with you is a delightful thing! Love your word, your poem, and am looking forward to where it takes you/us this year!
ReplyDeleteNice work Irene! I really like the poem you shared! The poems floating on the sea of red and the drips, slips really connected with me. Thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeleteI liked looking inside your thoughts, how generous to invite us all in–and it's very cozy inside, I can tell by the warm deep value in your burnt red. It sings with hints of yellow and orange, whimsy and wandering–what fun! I like using red to draw attention in areas of art–it's bold and has a voice. I especially like the reds in the fall they are intoxicating. I used reddish orange in the mid-ground of an oil painting I recently completed, called "Three Graces at the Cloisters–" and used this as part of my Winter Poem Swap gift to Joyce Ray, here's a link to the image: https://www.michellekogan.com/smaller-paintings-1/2020/1/5/8msiah2jr0x2f0tftyo1ey3h5ir2m0. Thanks Irene, xo
ReplyDeleteThank you Michelle! I love the painting. :)
DeleteI'm so intrigued by your choice of a color as your Artspeak! theme for the year. I loved the poems you wrote last year inspired by "happy", and shared so many of them with my class. Until your post, I hadn't realized how much I associate Matisse with red. I love "Harmony in Red" with its slippery boundaries, and those red, red goldfish in other paintings of his. I'm so looking forward to following your journey! Happy New Year!
ReplyDeleteoooh, adding this one to my list! I didn't know about Matisse and red... another reason I love this series. :) Thank you, Donna! I will let you know if/when I write on it. xo
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