Jingle Dog, Christmas Eve poem

 Hello and Happy Poetry Friday! Be sure to visit Jone Rush Maculloch for Roundup.

Before we get to that "Jingle Dog" in the title, I'd like to share a little of my own jingling!

In my music life I've recently hit a few milestones:

I finished book 10 of the cello Suzuki books! There are exactly 10 books. I have been taking lessons 10 years in January. 10 books in 10 years. I've learned SO MUCH! (Still taking lessons. Maybe forever taking lessons. I love my teacher Laura Usiskin!)

I had a cello string emergency which forced me to re-string my own cello.  I can't believe it took me 10 years to do this confidently on my own. (I put my own strings on during covid lockdowns and did not do it properly! Afterwards I was like, let the experts do it!... But now? I can do this! Eventually I will BE one of the experts. :)

I provided music for a Christmas party with my violinist-friend Mike Bentley. We call ourselves "Late Bloomers" because we both came to our instruments as adults. It was a lot of fun.

In poetry book news: don't miss Betsy Bird's 31 Lists in 31 Days 2024 "Poetry Books" edition! Some of my favorites from 2024 are mentioned...including The Mistakes That Made Us. Woohoo!

Also: If I Could Choose a Best Day: Poems of Possibility, edited by Irene Latham and Charles Waters, illustrations by Olivia Sua, coming from Candlewick March 4, 2025 has garnered two lovely reviews:

Kirkus review of If I Could Choose a Best Day

Publisher's Weekly review of If I Could Choose a Best Day

It's such a lovely book, y'all. Can't wait for you to see it.  :)

And now: This week's ArtSpeak: FOLK ART poem is inspired by Mary Flach's "Jingle Dog." Get your own piece of Mary's art here! 

This poem makes a nice addition to my "dog" mini-series:

Brown Dog

Yellow Dog Explains

Thanks so much for reading!

Jingle Dog, Christmas Eve

Jingle Dog can't sleep—
Santa is coming!

Jingle Dog untangles tree's
twinkly strings of light.

Jingle Dog cocks her head—
Yes! It's Santa's song!

Jingle Dog squeezes up chimney
to greet the reindeer and sleigh.

Jingle Dog covers Santa
in Merry-Christmas kisses!

- Irene Latham

Snow Day poem

 Hello and Happy Poetry Friday! Be sure to visit Linda at A Word Edgewise for Roundup.

First a nod to Nikki Giovanni who died earlier this week. What a bright light! I'm so glad so many of her words are still available to us. Her poem "Knoxville, Tennessee" is one I often share with students. Joy!

Today's ArtSpeak: FOLK ART features a winter scene by George Voronvsky. Just two more poems to go in this series!! Earlier this year I was inspired to write after two other George Voronvsky pieces:

Here Comes Summer

In the Season of Singing

For this poem I was thinking about writing. I was thinking about the book Wintering: The Power of Rest and Retreat in Difficult Times by Katherine May and the poem "Wintering" by Sylvia Plath.  

And I was thinking about pie. . . because we've been watching the latest season of The Great British Baking Show. :) 

I wrote quite a few pages and versions, just playing, and I don't know that any of them all the way stick together, but I do like how this one ends with an unexpected (essential!) ingredient. Thanks so much for reading.

Snow Day

today

a slice of snow-pie
latticed by bare birch
and pink sky

bees asleep
wolves resting
in a lazy heap

let the rabbits frolic!
invite the deer to dance!

inside you
daffodils roar toward
the surface

finally you are free

- Irene Latham

Cat / Lady / Snow poem + NCTE Report

 Hello and Happy Poetry Friday! Be sure to visit Carol at The Apples in My Orchard for Roundup.

Y'all. The year is disappearing! 

Earlier this week at Smack Dab in the Middle I blogged about How to Define Writing Success. I hope you'll give it a read...and maybe even tell me how YOU define writing success??

This week's ArtSpeak: FOLK ART poem features a cat in the snow after art I love by Barbara Strawser. Earlier this year I wrote after two other of her pieces:

I Have a Garden Angel

Napa Valley Magic

Snowy Morning with Cat & Lady

When Lady arrives
all tall and billowy,
Cat is frozen
in the snow.
He isn't sure:
should he trust her?
      Time to hiss
      or time to purr?

Once so tall,
now Lady's hand swings
low. On her face
a smile: Hello!
      Cold melts.
      Cat thaws.
Slowly slowly
he retracts his claws.
Cat waves his tail,
lifts his brow.

Meow?

- Irene Latham

And now a few words about NCTE Boston: It was everything I wanted it to be! 

Smooth travels

view of Alabama hills on my flight home

 sweet times with friends, old & new

(as always I wish I'd taken more pictures...but I am grateful for the ones I do have!)

group shot from Poetry Peeps Meet-Up! David L. Harrison,
Vikram Madan, Matt Forrest Esenwine, Allan Wolf, Cindy Greene,
Nancy Tupper Ling, Mark Malcolm, Marcie Atkins, Cathy Steinquist,
Mary E. Cronin, Cedar Pruitt, Carol Hinz, Susan Hood, Jeannine Atkins,
Randi Soneshine, Alison Green Myers, Willeena Booker, Irene Latham,
Laura Purdie Salas, Michelle Schaub, Lisa Rogers, Charles Waters
& others (if your name or someone's name you recognize is missing,
would you please let me know in comments? Thank you!) 

folks pictured: Cedar Pruitt, Michelle Schaub, 
Jeannine Atkins, Irene Latham, Cathy Steinquist, Mary Cronin,
Willeena Booker, Mark Malcolm, Nadine Pinede, Allan Wolf,
Nancy Bo Flood, April Halprin Wayland, Lisa Rogers,
Charles Waters, Ann Marie Corgill, Nancy Tupper Ling,
Georgia Heard, Kathleen Clarke, Vikram Madan

 lots of learning

Nadine Pinede, Susan Hood, Jeannine Atkins,
Carole Boston Weatherford, Irene Latham
"Hope is the Thing with Feathers: How History
Makes Poetry Sing"

 some new-city exploring

places and folks pictured: Irene Latham, Marcie Atkins,
Parker House Hotel, King's Chapel Cemetery, 
Make Way for Ducklings sculpture,
Boston Athenaeum, Beacon Street Books.

inspiration, validation, hope!

folks pictured: Irene Latham, April Halprin Wayland,
Jeannine Atkins, Ellen Hopkins, Dahlia Hamza
Constantine, Mary Lee Hahn, Charles Waters,
Charles R. Smith, Jr., Rebecca Davis, Carol Hinz,
Carter Hasegawa

& (of course!) some just-out/coming-soon books by NCTE attendees I'm excited about 

Green Promises: Girls Who Loved the Earth by Jeannine Atkins

Knocking on Windows: a Memoir by Jeannine Atkins

One Step Ahead by Marcie Flinchum Atkins

A Universe of Rainbows: Multicolored Poems for a Multicolored World edited by Matt Forrest Esenwine, illus. by Jamey Christoph

A Tree is a Community by David L. Harrison

If I Could Choose a Best Day: Poems of Possibility edited by Irene Latham and Charles Waters, illus. by Olivia Sua

Beware the Dragon and the Nozzlewock: a Graphic Novel Poetry Collection by Vikram Madan

When the Mapou Sings by Nadine Pinede

Fire Flight: A Wildlife Escape by Cedar Pruitt, illus. by Chiara Fedele

Line Leads the Way by Laura Purdie Salas, illus by Alice Caldarella

Oskar's Voyage by Laura Purdie Salas, illus. by Kayla Harren

The Doll Test: Choosing Equality by Carole Boston Weatherford, illus. by David Elmo Cooper

Congratulations to Charles R. Smith, Jr. for being honored with the 2025 NCTE Award for Excellence in Poetry!

And don't miss the NCTE Notable Poetry Books list. Charles and I are so pleased The Mistakes That Made Us is included. Thank you, committee...and thank you, contributors! Congratulations to all the winners!

*Special shout-out to Jeannine Atkins who is calm and balm and all the best things when the rain is blowing sideways! Mwah!