Hello and Happy Poetry Friday! Be sure to visit Heidi at my juicy little universe for Roundup.
Today I've got book news! And not one, but TWO poems!
1. The Mistakes That Made Us: Confessions from Twenty Poets edited by Irene Latham and Charles Waters, illus. by Mercè López (Carolrhoda/ Lerner Publishing) will release Oct. 1. Publisher's Weekly gave it a STARRED review. Woohoo!
2. Earlier this week, we shared the cover of our March 2025 anthology If I Could Choose a Best Day: Poems of Possibility, poems selected by Irene Latham and Charles Waters, illus. by Olivia Sua (Candlewick). So many Poetry Friday friends have poems in this book! YAY! So much gratitude to these poets. Something cool about this collection is that all the poems in the book start with the word "if." Here's the list of contributors:
Lacresha Berry, Robyn Hood Black, JaNay Brown-Wood, Joseph Bruchac, Sy Cedering, Emily Dickinson, Rebecca Kai Dotlich, Nikki Grimes, Jolene Gutiérrez, Georgia Heard, Anna Grossnickle Hines, Irene Latham, Renée M. LaTulippe, Nancy Tupper Ling, Sylvia Liu, Rebekah Lowell, Vikram Madan, Guadalupe Garcia McCall, Lilian Moore, Eric Ode, Bob Raczka, Lisa Rogers, Sydell Rosenberg, Laura Purdie Salas, Janice Scully, Teresa Owens Smith, Gabi Snyder, Sarah Grace Tuttle, Amy Ludwig VanDerwater, Charles Waters, Janet Wong
3. Today's ArtSpeak: FOLK ART poemS (it's a 2-fer Friday the 13th!) feature a Harvest Moon (coming September 17!) and children roasting marshmallows. The artist is Jessie LaVon. Thanks so much for reading!
harvest moon
children dip sticks into flame
marshmallows sing
- Irene Latham
How to Roast a Marshmallow
build a fire
a cozy, crackly fire
find a stick
a long, tapered stick
skewer a marshmallow
a plump, pillowy marshmallow
turn it slowly—
like a rotisserie—slowly
till the outside is crispy
golden and crispy
and the inside is gooey
fingertip sticky and ooey-gooey
pop it in your mouth
your wide-awake mouth
mmm
mmm
- Irene Latham