Crows, Again. And A Crop of Middle Grade Book Recs

 Hello and Happy Poetry Friday! Be sure to visit magnificent Marcie Flinchum Atkins for Roundup.

I've been reading lots of middle grade this week!

One and Only Family by Katherine Applegate. Ivan's back, and in this one he becomes a father! This brings up issues about his family, what happened to him, and what's appropriate to tell the children. I loved it. And there is this one chapter called "missing stella." It ends like this: 

"It's been a long time since she passed away. You'd think the missing would end. But it doesn't. It just softens around the edges.

Instead of a hurting place to avoid, it becomes a healing place to seek out."

Not Quite A Ghost by Anne Ursu - I'm a long-time Anne Ursu fan... Breadcrumbs, anyone? I got some Judy Blume vibes in this one...and trigger warning: A LOT of time spent describing illness/how it feels to be sick. (Maybe this is great for post-covid kids, but it was tough for me.)

Selkie's Daughter by Linda Crotta Brennan - The sea language is rich in this one! I dove into this one and didn't come up for air until I was finished...I think I'd like to be a selkie.

Journey Beyond the Burrow by Rina Heisel - I love animal adventure stories! This one features mice...and all kinds of critters (snake, woodchuck, fox, possom, hawk, owl...) they meet along their journey to save their little sibling (a pinkling) from spiders. Cooperation is a major theme.

The Songbird and the Rambutan Tree by Lucille Abendanon - historical fiction! WWII Japanese occupation in Batavia, Dutch East Indies. Oh Emmy makes some choices that have huge consequences...all about survival, finding voice, and freedom. So good! Here's a quote I love:

" Deep inside, I feel my fear changing, evaporating like a puddle after the rain. A white-hot fire burns in the pit of my stomach.

I won't give up. I won't let them win

I am the only one who can save me."

Another passage I really relate to: "Many different places, many different homes...For you, a monkey in a tree is as ordinary as a dog in a kennel; a frangipani flower as familiar as an English rose. You inhabit both words...Batavia may be the country of your birth and your home now, Emmy-chan. But remember, people like us are only ever guests here."

 

And a great question: "But what's better: Living in ignorance or knowing the bad stuff so you can try to do something about it?"

Today's ArtSpeak: FOLK ART poem has me returning to the Florida Highwaymen, this time George Voronovsky. The title comes from The Comfort of Crows: A Backyard Year by Margaret Renkl (which I blogged about here). It's for my sister who is a July sunshine baby. (Happy Birthday, LTG!!) Thanks so much for reading!

In the Season of Singing

—for Lynn

crows know it's summer

when melons can't stop vining

sunflowers won't stop shining

and each evening Sister Sun

commands skyline to s t r  e  t  c h

just a few wingbeats longer

- Irene Latham

The world inside the whale is dark, briny (poem)

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

For today's ArtSpeak: FOLK ART, I have an unidentified piece of art. I found it on Pinterest, and sadly I can't credit the artist. It's a pretty great piece!

As I was writing my poem, I was thinking about the vortex of illness, and how consuming it is. 

Its title is reminiscent of a poem I wrote during 2020, my "Red" year: The World of the Vase is Dark, Wet. But the messages of the poems are completely different! Thanks so much for reading.

The world inside the whale is dark, briny

Mountains rise on one side,

tides on the other.

I am pitched forward,

back. I am upside-down.

My boat swirls past,

disappears.

If I wanted to, I could

stop. I could follow the boat.

But I want to live.

I kick, I surge.

I pull my way past

sharks, eels.

The world inside the whale

is dark, briny.

I am rising, surfacing.

I am a rainbow spouting

from a whale's blowhole.

I am free!

- Irene Latham

Napa Valley Magic poem

Hello and Happy Poetry Friday! Be sure to visit radiant Robyn at Life on the Deckle Edge for Roundup.

First, don't miss these two JOY-filled picture books: JOYFUL SONG by Lesléa Newman, illus. by Susan Gal and JUMP FOR JOY by Karen Gray Ruelle, illus. by Hadley Hooper. Both are beautiful and rate high on re-readability!

This week I've got a summer-moon magic, California dreamin', animals-are-dancing ArtSpeak: FOLK ART poem for you! This piece by Barbara Strawser brings me so much joy...all her work does!

Once, many summer-moons ago (2006!), Paul and I took a trip to Napa Valley. Among other delights, we visited a working olive oil farm. Instead of a wine tasting, we had an olive oil tasting! Such a special experience...we also still talk about the burgers we ate that day at Mustards Grill. Food is everything. :)

Napa Valley Magic

at night frogs
dance with morning
doves

dragonflies jingle
turtle's doorbell

and angels
descend
to plump grapes
with moonlight

- Irene Latham

Fox Listens poem

 Hello and Happy Poetry Friday!  Be sure to visit watermelon-juicy Jan at bookseedstudio for Roundup.

Paul and I were talking about how it feels like we are in a new chapter, and it might be called the "Two Dips a Day" chapter, because lately we have been taking a morning dip and an evening dip in the lake! 

Unfortunately, the reason for the double-dips is I have the hives...oh, the itching is like being on fire. Awful.

 So maybe this is the universe telling me I NEED a new chapter. It can be really hard for me to slow down and relax. I have to make time to DO NOTHING. And to do nothing in the water with all the lake-joy lizards, frogs, flowers, breeze, laughter, splashes, etc... glorious respite from the itching...AND with my best friend beside me...ahhh.

Also, I posted over at Smack Dab in the Middle on the topic of mystery, as in the mysterious source of our power, writing, and creativity. You can read the post here. 

That brings us to this week's reading life, which has been lovely! I'm still thinking about Joyful: The Surprising Power of Ordinary Things to Create Extraordinary Happiness by Ingrid Fetell Lee. The book examines the aesthetics of joy, things like abundance and harmony and surprise. It gave me some new ideas for ways to further infuse my daily life and living space with joy.

And how about Black Girl You Are Atlas by Renee Watson? It's a short collection of poems beautifully illustrated by Ekua Holmes, and I found a lot ot love!

The poem "Love Shows Up" is basically a list of all the ways love shows up in the speaker's Black girl life. My favorite stanza:

"Love shows up in spring when the leaves return to trees,

keeping their promise that they'd be back."

The poem “Penny Fountain,” which is full of wishes, ends with this:

"Wish for healing the invisible, aching places.

Wish for someone to love you the way you need it.

Wish for no need

for wishes, for no prayer to go

unanswered."

“Lessons on Being a Sky Walker” opens with these lines:

"When they tell you

the sky is the limit, vow to go past that."

The poem "Underbelly" is a list of ways to think about one's body. I especially love this line:

"Black girl body be lighthouse."

"Turning Sweet Sixteen” opens with a challenge:

'But what if I want to be sour? What if when you ask me, How are you?

I tell you the truth. I am not fine all the time."

Here's a favorite line from the poem "What I Know About Rain":

"Sometimes rain is just rain."

The book ends with the poem with a marvelous message for girls of all ages and ethnicities:

"Love It All"

All your body parts, all your imperfections, everything. Lovely!

It's been a week of listening -- listening to summer, listening to my loved ones, listening to my body. No wonder for my ArtSpeak: FOLK ART poem I was drawn to this rendering of a little fox listening by Oregon artist Jennifer Lommers. I wanted the ending to go against what one might expect! Thanks so much for reading (listening). :)

Fox Listens

Fox listens as light stirs

the forest floor

Fox listens to the deer

vanish

Fox listens as stones

call across centuries

Fox listens to beetle and owl,

to lichen-sheathed log

all of them singing

the same refrain

forget me when I'm gone

- Irene Latham