Picasso Fox poem

 Hello and Happy Poetry Friday! Be sure to visit Tabatha at The Opposite of Indifference for Roundup.

Now that we are entering the last quarter of the year (!), I've got my One Little Word on my mind... WHIMSY. How has whimsy played into my life? When I look around my house, I see a whole lot of whimsy! Here's the latest addition:

Yep, I repurposed a leaky canoe into a raised bed garden! Don't you dig the blue paint? I planted kale for fall, and I kind of love it. :)

I think I've added some whimsy to my writing life, too...taking more chances, being more playful, stretching my imagination... 

For this week's ArtSpeak: Animals, I've got another Picasso for you! And a bonus poem, too. It kind of emerged as I was trying to write about the fox. (Don't you love when that happens?!) Thank you so much for reading.

a lone duck calls

and from the tall grass a fox

sets world ablaze

- Irene Latham

...and speaking of foxes...here's the bonus poem, just right for this time of year! :)

with a fox for

a soul, it blazes all hours

this autumn maple

- Irene Latham

Picasso grasshopper poem

 Hello and Happy Poetry Friday! Be sure to visit Rose at Imagine the Possibilities for Roundup.

I'm on the road today, heading home from my mom's. She's about halfway through her radiation treatments, and we are in the process of getting her moved closer to us. It's a big undertaking!

I'm also in the process of querying agents for a big sweeping novel for adults. (My agent doesn't represent adult projects.) It's not my favorite way to spend my time, I'll tell you that! But I love this book SO MUCH. And this is just part of the journey, right?

For this week's ArtSpeak: Animals project, I am still really enjoying this Picasso mini-series! (This is #8.) I'm just going to keep going until I get tired of it, or until I run out of Picasso's animal drawings—whichever comes first. Thank you so much for reading!

Little grasshopper

springs from stalk to stalk—playing

hide and seek with sun

-Irene Latham

Picasso Elephant poem

Hello and Happy Poetry Friday! Be sure to visit Kathryn Apel for a Down Under Roundup.

This month while the tv runs college football games, I've been piecing a quilt! 

I realized a while back that I had quite a lot of black fabric in my stash. Black is not the most popular color to include in a quilt—which has made a black quilt project all the more enticing! I decided to use strips and construct squares on the diagonal—kind of a "crazy" quilt—and then arrange 4 squares to create some sort of funky block. 

(I am not a precision quilter! More of an improvisational quilter, ala the Gee's Bend quilters.)

As I've been sewing, a name for the quilt popped into my head: "Midnight in the Garden of Good & Glorious." 

No "evil" in this quilt! But lots of midnight. And my sweet friend Donna gave me some beautiful black-horse fabric, so I'll be incorporating it into the back— which I haven't figured out yet! I'll keep you posted.

In ArtSpeak: Animals news, I'm still having fun with Picasso. Today I have a sweet little elephant poem for you. Thanks so much for reading.

how jubilantly

elephant calf welcomes dawn

parade of mothers

- Irene Latham

Picasso Mouse poem

Hello and Happy Poetry Friday! Be sure to visit Carol at Beyond LiteracyLink for Roundup.

with Daniel on his first birthday,
September 1995

September is a big birthday month in my family. Both my parents were born in September. One of my brothers. My eldest son. A niece. A nephew... actually, I learned that more babies are born worldwide in September than any other month. 

In recent decades in the U.S., that month is August, followed by July. Interesting, yes?

So this month has already held some birthday celebrations, and we're not done yet! 

Switching gears...this week's ArtSpeak: Animals continues my Picasso mini-series. Meet Picasso's mouse, who has quite an impressive tail! It just seems wrong to write anything lengthy about these simple line drawings, so I am getting some practice as a miniaturist/haiku poet lately. It's been fun...and challenging! Thank you so much for reading.

just behind the door

a mouse parades down the aisle

bride of shadows

-Irene Latham

Picasso Owl poem

 Hello and Happy Poetry Friday! Be sure to visit Linda at TeacherDance for Roundup.

Holy September, it's football season. That's a pretty big deal 'round these parts! On Friday nights we really enjoy supporting our local team—a small 1A K-12 school with a stadium perched atop gorgeous Straight Mountain. Lupita's ice cream truck is usually there, too, which is always a treat. 

I'm continuing my ArtSpeak: Animals Picasso mini-series with an owl! Owls are one of those subjects well covered by poets, so it feels like quite a challenge to write something fresh about them...but how could I NOT tackle it, when Picasso's art is so dang adorable?! Thanks so much for reading.

the mystery is

how owl so round and ruffled

learned to drink moonlight

- Irene Latham

p.s. Here's a site featuring 51 owl poems, some familiar, some new to me. Enjoy!