Hello and Happy Poetry Friday! Be sure to visit terrific Tricia at the Miss Rumphius Effect for Roundup!
Well. This week did NOT go as expected. Due to travel troubles, I was not able to attend Highlights in person, which was heartbreaking...but I WAS able to connect with everyone virtually! How lucky are we we live in a day and age where such creative alternatives are possible?
words attendees selected
from Highlights Word Garden
Charles is such a champ, and Lacresha Berry is sunshine, and poets are such beautiful people...shout out to all the attendees, including Poetry Friday friends Linda, Tracey, and Marcie...WOW. What amazing work you're doing! I loved connecting with all of you. And the team at Highlights is just the BEST. I'm so so grateful! And inspired! And ready to write all the things!
This week's ArtSpeak: FOLK ART poem is inspired by Pennsylvania folk artist Barbara Strawser. (Since I couldn't be in Pennsylvania...) I love Barbara's work! I've got a few more images of her work I'll likely write about later this year. But for now, please meet my garden angel. She's yours, too, if you need her. xo
I Have A Garden Angel
I have a garden angel.
Her robes buzz
with butterflies and bees.
She sings green songs
of love and hope,
and if I should collapse
to my knees,
she sends along
gentle sunbeams
and a refreshing breeze.
All the while, flowers sing,
weeds shimmy.
Sun plays hide and seek.
As for rain? Well, with rain
one never knows.
But my garden angel
forever glimmer-glows.
My garden angel never
leaves me.
- Irene Latham
Irene, I'm sorry you couldn't go to Pennsylvania in person, but yes, it is a new and blessed miracle that we can be there virtually. Your garden angel poem is precious, and goes so well with Strawser's artwork. Love, love: "But my garden angel / forever glimmer-glows."
ReplyDeleteI love your garden angel! I need a dose of her "glimmer-glow" this year--chipmunks keep eating all the seeds I plant! Sorry to hear about your Highlights travel woes, but yes, thank goodness for all the connections we can make through technology!
ReplyDeleteSo sorry you could not be there in person, Irene. I know you missed all the fun and am sure they missed you, too! Love your stalwart 'garden angel', always there! Enjoy your weekend!
ReplyDeleteNot sure if this was intentional, but I am just noticing the play on "garden/guardian" angel? Which delights me all over again as I re-read your poem! I want to sit with "if I should collapse to my knees..." since this week, everything in my world is sending me there.
ReplyDeleteI love those shimmying weeds. :) You were amazing even though you weren't able to be there in person. You DID connect with all of us. I appreciate your encouragement so much!
ReplyDeleteYou are the garden angel! Thank you so much for a wonderful retreat at Highlights. Your presence was felt everywhere even though travel plans went awry. Incidentally, on June 23, TSA broke a record for the most individuals screened in one day (just not fast enough). : / https://www.tsa.gov/news/press/releases/2024/06/24/tsa-breaks-record-most-individuals-screened-single-day-readies
ReplyDeleteI'm sorry that you weren't able to be in PA. The group that was there had amazing energy. It really did NOT occur to me that Charles might have felt any stress without you there. It never showed and Lacresha stepped up to the plate like the pro she is.
ReplyDeleteI definitely plugged Poetry Friday while there! Hopefully, some of our new friends show up. I was just so, so, so happy to meet Tracy in person and drive with Marci. I feel like I got so much from being in that aMAZing group. Now, I am plugging along with my projects with a bigger smile. Thanks for all your encouragement and creativity.
So sorry you didn't make it to Highlights, Irene. Your poem is delightful! I feel I need a garden/guardian angel to help me avoid the poison and "sing green songs of love and hope."
ReplyDeleteIrene, it takes me quite a while to make the Poetry Friday rounds each week but here I am and thrilled to read your post. Of course, I am sorry that you could not be in person at the Highlights but I am sure everyone enjoyed your virtual trip to Pennsylvania. Your garden angel is a beautiful poem of joy. Since the weather is hot and many lawns browning with from the lack of water, I appreciate a garden angel " forever glimmer-gold". I hope to see you at PF this week.
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