Hello and Happy Poetry Friday! Be sure to visit Tabatha at The Opposite of Indifference for a "Brave" Roundup!
In case you want some community learning and inspiration with poets this year, please consider joining us at Highlights Nov. 1-4 for Poetry Palooza! (We're filling up fast...if you are interested, please don't delay!)
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I talked last week about how this ArtSpeak: PICASSO series is challenging me. This week's poem went in TWO surprising directions!
1. The first poem is for kids. Picasso plays a lot with shapes. So I decided to play with shapes, too! (A previous poem I've posted that plays with shapes: "Geometry of Summer")
- Irene Latham
2. This one is for adult readers. Remember Dick & Jane? Here's a great article highlighting the series's ups and downs.
I don't remember these books playing any part in my reading education, but then I'm a child of the '70s. By then Dr. Seuss and the Weekly Reader series were all the rage. So imagine my surprise when Dick & Jane popped into my brain...and my poem became about their parents!
You'll also see me playing with punctuation in this poem. That's likely because punctuation is on my mind, since I'll be teaching a webinar this spring on Punctuation in Poetry over at Inked Voices. Registration information coming soon!
Dick & Jane's Parents Go to the Beach
they walk bare-
foot in sand
life is a knife
slicing them a/part
wind stitches
them backtogether
- Irene Latham
I do think many of us go to the beach for rejuvenation. And I remember how challenging those busy parenting years were...as much as kids bring a couple together, they can also create great divides. I loved being a mom to young ones, but I'm also happy to be in the season of friendship with our adult children. Thanks so much for reading!
Dick and Jane had parents?!?! Who knew?! :-)
ReplyDeleteThanks for the mini lesson on playing with punctuation. That webinar sounds like a must-take!
Hi beach gurl! I always harken to a coastal cure & these twin poems are crafted spritely for the youngsters & yet with wisdom, for those older.
ReplyDeleteMuch to relax with & create, with here, especially the November Highlights reunion of such talent-full creators.
Yay!
Irene, Poetry Palooza sounds like a hoot! I wish I could attend, but I don’t think I will be able to make it this year. Love: the box of birds flirting with the surf and the family triangle!
ReplyDeleteBoth of your poems are fascinating, Irene! I like the rectangular sky, so active, and the triangle of family and waves. Both poems connect people and nature this way and that. Picasso is turning out to have startling layers and fun twists! xo
ReplyDeleteOh Irene, you delight -- "...box/of birds to flirt with the surf..." So much inspiration from Picasso! I see two kooky birds and an exclamation point and you were able to unweave parents and a child in it. Love it.
ReplyDeleteLove that you saw the parents and the kids in this intriguing Picasso! Yes to the life and wind for parents! I had A. Sterl Artley as a professor in college, & I taught those Dick & Jane books, love the article & do know of the challenges later from reading experts. Your poetry group at Highlights looks awesome, Irene! Thanks for all you shared!
ReplyDeleteYour poems are delightful, Irene! I marvel at the things you unearth in those abstract paintings. And Dick and Jane! I grew up reading with them, so I was happy to meet the parents (although I do recall them making a few appearances in the books.)
ReplyDeleteI'm happy to be in a season of friendship with my adult children too--even though my heart squeezes when I see pics of "my" babies. I miss those tender little toes and faces so much. I'm also a fan of that box of birds...and making Picasso playful! I think he would like that.
ReplyDeleteI've never seen this particular Picasso and I believe I could write a whole sweet suite of poems about it. I wish I could watch the path of electricity along your neurons that brought you to D&J's parents!
ReplyDeleteIrene, thanks for the wonderful ArtSpeak poems and having me spin back the years to read your blog. Digging into Picasso's paintings has moved your imagination to new thoughts. Kudos to you.
ReplyDeleteI love those birds flirting with the surf!
ReplyDeleteOh, I really love that second poem, Irene. (Though a flirt of birds is definitely worth unboxing, too!)
ReplyDeleteI don't think I've ever seen that Picasso before — I love the way you took it in two completely different directions!
ReplyDeleteWe're in that stage right now - whenever my son spots my husband and I sneaking in a hug, he has to wriggle himself right in between us. ;-) But that's the way of life, isn't it? Stretching apart and coming back together. :)
ReplyDeleteYou go, Irene! I love that Picasso is making you embrace the paintings with your fun and equally creative words. I was a Dick and Jane reader in the 60s, and I think they are a perfect subject for the poem!
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