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Friday, July 24, 2020

ArtSpeak: RED poem "Love in the Time of Long Distance"

Hello and Happy Poetry Friday! Be sure to visit Margaret at Reflections on the Teche for Roundup.

When I first looked at this Mark Rothko piece I thought it looked like a face with a white mouth. Then I thought it looked like a mailbox. So, both those things found their way into today's poem.


Love in the Time of Long Distance

sometimes the mouth opens
and silence spills out

sometimes the mouth
is a slot
and silent words
riding plain envelopes
slip in

sometimes the eyes
say what the mouth can't

sometimes words
make everything worse

sometimes the mouth opens
and after the noise
what's left
is hope

- Irene Latham

10 comments:

  1. Powerful, Irene. I especially like the first stanza and "words riding plain envelopes slip in." xo

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  2. The repetition of sometimes really works...I think of all the sometimes I identified with the lines. The older I get, the more I enjoy abstract art and what one can find in it. You inspire me. I'd love a little lesson on how you find your art pieces to write about. How do you go about finding just red things? Do you visit museums virtually and pick and choose? Or, do you search specifically? I may want to try this with a different color.

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  3. I'll just leave my "wow" here. xx

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  4. "sometimes the eyes
    say what the mouth can't"

    ...because you're being responsible and wearing a mask!!

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  5. There is a tension between speaking and silence in this poem. It made me think how each is used and how we choose, if that makes sense. I often speak when I should have chosen silence and the other way around.;)

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  6. Sometimes you read a poem
    and want to tuck it into your pocket
    just to keep the words closer
    and the writer near.

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  7. I see the haunting face in the mailbox - the silent mouth. I see the eyes conveying what the mouth (and hidden heart) can't say. I remember being a child waiting and waiting for the mail to come - seems an eon ago. My granddaughter is currently waiting for a gift she picked out and that I ordered; production and shipping are delayed, as is so much else, due to COVID. We just have to wait - and so I especially cling to your ending with hope here, Irene. After all the noise and even the silences.

    -Fran

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  8. Such power your moving mouth-opening-slot poem offers, emotions, and "hope." –And strong image too, thanks Irene! xo

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  9. I love your interpretation of this painting and the beautiful, wise poem it inspired. I also love that you ended with hope, something I desperately need a large dose of!

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Your thoughts?