A Red Poem to Start the New Year

Hello and Happy Poetry Friday! Be sure to visit Carol's Corner for Roundup.

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