Hello and Happy Poetry Friday! Be sure and visit Margaret at Reflections on the Teche for Roundup. Thanks to all—especially the teachers among us—who shared experiences about transitioning to summer. I'm lifting a glass of homemade strawberry lemonade to all of you!
Something fun this week: My friend & poet & anthologist Nancy Tupper Ling invited me to be part of her Author Acrostic series! Be sure to check out all the authors in the series at Nancy's website. I'm on a social media hiatus, so I'll share mine with you here:
In the beginning, my parents
Read to me. I learned the joyful
Exuberance of words!
Now I'm learning there aren't
Enough words, and even less time.
- Irene Latham
Also, this week, I've been updating my website! More on that soon. And Tabatha helped me format a little zine to go with WILD PEACE. Link coming soon! Creating digital content sure does gobble the time, doesn't it?
For my ARTSPEAK: Four Seasons poem this week, I knew I wanted to write after this Klimt apple piece, and I decided to use a 7-line mentor poem with an odd rhyme scheme. I couldn't figure out my beginning, so I started building the poem from the bottom up... and I'd only got the last four lines done when I decided it was a poem! (I'll try the 7-liner poem another time.)
Oh, Irene. What delight to visit your blog. Both your poems are perfection. Not enough words and even less time - indeed! But your mountain wedding (accompanied by your homemade strawberry lemonade) is just gorgeous!💕
ReplyDeleteIrene, your poem is so lovely. The images are strong and the introduction of the words champagne, forest, bouquets mix beautifully with the painting and surrounded words you used. Words matter! You first poem is so you.
ReplyDeleteOh, my! Summer champagne at the marriage of Sunbeam and Shadow. What a glorious four lines. Hooary for an author project to investigate. Thanks! I'm off to see.
ReplyDeleteGlad we could get the zine sorted! Your Mountain Wedding is enchanting! xo
ReplyDeleteThis one is filled with bubbles, Irene! How they shimmer! I think they brought serendipity... thanks for sharing.
ReplyDeleteThat acrostic is so true. Are we both racing with the clock to get all the writing that's filling us up down on the page? You always manage to find an original way of looking at things, even an apple tree.
ReplyDeleteIrene, wonderful rich post today. I love the IRENE acrostic--such a gift of words your parents gave you, for a lifetime of writing and sharing. "Mountain Wedding" is a whole poem--and so beautiful. There is so much to love about the sunshine and shadow marriage. The apple bouquets, champagne rain. Wow!
ReplyDeleteThanks for the 3-course meal, Irene--appetizer acrostic, gobbling of digital content (YES; I've already given up on my aim to open a Teachers Pay Teachers store this summer), final toast of apple champagne. I'd love to know which 7-line mentor poem you were looking at...
ReplyDeleteIrene, I love the positivity and joy in your acrostic poem. Mountain Wedding is a beautiful poem for a beautiful painting! Your images put me right there in the painting. I especially love the lines "Afternoon rain/becomes summer's champagne/
ReplyDeleteas sunbeam marries shadow." Great rhyming. Thank you for sharing. I bought your book Dictionary For a Better World and I'm loving it!
Great imagery!! Loved "trees carry bouquets of apples." Thank you for sharing!
ReplyDeleteIrene, I love these. Our nephew just got married on a trail in the Colorado mountains, and this reminds me so much of him & his bride. It was such a beautiful wedding. I'll have to send the poem to them!
ReplyDeleteI adore both your acrostic and your accidental wedding poem! And you, too, of course!
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely love the mountain wedding. Thanks for inviting me!
ReplyDelete"Afternoon rain
ReplyDeletebecomes summer's champagne"
what a delicious line, and yes to Tabatha calling your poem enchanting! And that shortage of time sure is a bother… especially when it's gobbled up with digital gobbledygook. Looking forward to seeing your new creations.
Mountain Wedding paired with that Klimt — perfection!
ReplyDeleteWow, Irene! Both of your poems really moved me this week. The first especially for those ending two lines, and the second for the sheer beauty and imaginative nature of it. It made my heart sing! (Thanks also for the intro to that Klimt painting--another big Wow!)
ReplyDelete