ArtSpeak: FOUR SEASONS "Snow Song" poem

 Hello and Happy Poetry Friday! Be sure to visit Karen Edmisten for Roundup. I'm away from my desk, having some birthday adventures... and possibly a new First to add to my 50 Firsts!

In case you missed it, here's my homemade-by-me everything-for-free book trailer for D-39: A ROBODOG'S JOURNEY! This was my first time to make a book trailer. I hope you like it! And I hope it makes you want to read the book. :)

My poem today uses rhyme and musical language to talk about snow. (Just 3 more weeks of winter poems. I am SO READY for spring!) Thank you so much for reading. 

Snow Song

when adagio
of snow

serenades
the meadow

partridges
forgo

grass-bowl
hollows

to flush
         hope

from pianissimo
crop-rows

- Irene Latham

ArtSpeak: FOUR SEASONS "February" poem

 Hello and Happy Poetry Friday! Be sure to visit Ruth at There is no such thing as a godforsaken town for Roundup.

First a special announcement for my Alabama friends: Karim and I will be signing THE CAT MAN OF ALEPPO this Sunday at Little Professor Books in Homewood, 2-4 pm. Socially distanced and masked, of course... I'll be the one in the cat mask. :)

Today's Poetry Friday offering has a few connections I'd like to share. 

1. Unlike most of the world, I love February! I love it because it's short, and I love it because it's my birthday month. (Happy Birthday to my fellow February birthday Poetry Friday friends, of which I know there are quite a few: Ruth, Heidi, Laura, Kat, Tabatha!!!)

2. I wrote this one in a new-to-me form called a "viator." It has a refrain that appears in a particular spot in each stanza, and I kind of love it! You can learn more about the viator here. 

3. This piece of art by Vincent van Gogh is his "cover" of another artist's painting. What a great reminder that ALL artists imitate as they are learning!

4. You may recognize the words "bleak midwinter." They appear "In the Bleak Midwinter" by Christina Rossetti. Also, Thomas Shelby and his compatriots repeat these words whenever they are facing death. (If you don't know who Thomas Shelby is, you should! Check out Peaky Blinders.)

5. One article I read said the colors of this painting have faded over time, so that now the ravens stand out more than they originally did... adding to the bleakness that I chose to write about. Perhaps my poem would have gone in a different direction were I writing it upon Vincent first completing it?

And now, the poem! Thanks so much for reading.

February

On bleak midwinter mornings
birds forage forgotten fields.
They dust and flutter,
dig and carry.

For birds, joy unfolds
on bleak midwinter mornings.
At this peaceful feast,
all are welcome.

Frost cannot keep
their chorus from rising
on bleak midwinter mornings.
Wings, too, symphony the sky.

Stop your stalling,
the birds call.
Marry yourself to fortune
on bleak midwinter mornings.

- Irene Latham

ArtSpeak: FOUR SEASONS poem "Boating in Winter"

 Hello and Happy Poetry Friday! Be sure to visit Molly at Nix the comfort zone for Roundup.

I don't know about you, but I'm feeling a bit weary of winter. This week's poem shows that. Thanks so much for reading.

Boating in Winter

oars stir
             icy
unwelcoming
     water

wind ruffles
             faces
into puckers
     and lines

even sun's
             kiss
     turns cold

- Irene Latham

ArtSpeak: FOUR SEASONS "Digging in Winter" poem

 Hello and Happy Poetry Friday! Be sure to visit Jone Rush Macculloch for Roundup.

It's been a wintry week, hasn't it? I feel like I've been digging myself out of piles of one kind or another... and so this poem! Thank you for reading.

Digging in Winter

sky bends
over backs
that have made

               friends
with winter

snow grips
              fingers
as hoe's resolve
crumbles

song stirs
potatoes
             awake

- Irene Latham