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| art by Linda Mitchell |
Hello and Welcome to Poetry Friday Roundup! I'm so glad you're here. Please leave your link below!
How's everyone's National Poetry Month going? The poetry-love is strong in these parts...and so have been the storms! (This influenced my ArtSpeak: PICASSO poem greatly! Read on!) Isn't April grand?
In case you missed it, here is my April public poetry installation: a Poetry Machine! It's now moved to its location-for-the-rest-of-the-month Charlie B's Restaurant. So many thanks to owner-all-around-good-guy-Lee...I told him I have a new tagline for his restaurant: "Where Poets Come to Eat." Yay!
Also, I'm honored to be among the poets featured in Michelle Schaub's Poetry Blast video series for National Poetry Month. Click here to hear me talk about and read a very short apology poem titled "Yellow Dog Explains." Thanks, Michelle!
Today I wanted to share some poems, art, and "StoryPeople" by Brian Andreas. I discovered Brian's work many years ago on a trip to New Orleans. Paul and I came home with this piece:
There
She said she usually cried at least once
AND THEN, last month, when I was with my mom and sister in Rome Georgia, at Dogwood Books, I picked up a well-loved copy of Brian's book, Traveling Light: Stories & Drawings for a Quiet Mind (2024). It's sigh-worthy start to finish! I'll leave you with a short one that makes me smile. Brian calls it "Final Reward."
:)
What tea am I currently in love with?
Bigelow Salted Caramel (black tea)
And now for today's ArtSpeak: PICASSO poem. I found myself (again!) writing on a stormy morning. I decided to try a tricube. But then the poem demanded to be set free from that constraint...so I let it storm its way onto the page just the way it wanted to. Thanks so much for reading...wishing all of you spring storms like this one!
- Irene Latham
Oh, love Brian's work! Thanks for the intro (will have to get his book)! Still in love with your Poetry Machine and enjoyed the Picasso ArtSpeak. You are the PF hostess with the mostest! Thank you. :)
ReplyDeleteOh you are in for a treat, Jama! xo
DeleteYour protein machine is brilliant!
ReplyDeleteAnd I love Brian Andreas too ~ we have a piece of his from two decades ago! When I first read his words at a local art gallery, I burst into tears. What an artisan/wordsmith/human he must be. Thank you for reminding me how he transformed me so many years ago, Irene💕
April, why does this not surprise me that we both have been moved to tears by this art?! Thank you for sharing. xo
ReplyDeletePS: wow! Look what I just found:
ReplyDeletehttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brian_Andreas
I love Brian's work, and I love your Poetry Machine, too. You are so creative!
ReplyDeleteThank you, Linda! Isn't poetry So.Much.Fun??! xo
DeleteThanks for hosting us and introducing us/me to a new poet!
ReplyDeleteMy pleasure! It's one of the joys of this community, isn't it?!
DeleteAppreciations Irene for sharing this rich post of Brian's art and poetry, Your Picasso poem–💙 the last stanza in Spring Storm poem–so many nice sounds in it, and what fun that Poetry Machine is unfolding! Thanks for hosting and Happy National Poetry Month!
ReplyDeleteMichelle, I never imagined I'd have so much fun with Picasso. This week I learned he was linked to the theft of the Mona Lisa! I will share about this soon. xo
DeleteOhhhhh, I too adore him. XXXX Thank you for this streaking, booming, gushing goodness, for always inspiring, and for a book recommendation. Much love to our host! xoxo
ReplyDeleteMuch love to you Amy Riding Hood! xo
DeletePOETRY MACHINE! I've been under a rock, I guess, and didn't know... BRILLIANT! And thanks for sharing these treasures old and new. Love your poem, too - thanks for the lightning and thunder and rain and blooming things! (Storming here as I type this!) xo Thank you for rounding us all up!
ReplyDeleteThis is one reason why being under the rock is GOOD...when you come out, there's so much to see! xo
DeleteOh, I love Brian Andreas's work! Wow. I remember your gorgeous "Yellow Dog Explains" — it was just the perfect blend of words and images. (Sigh-worthy!) :) And while I love your poem this week about the spring storms, I'm hoping the midwest is calmer this spring than it was last year (when our entire basement flooded. No, thank you to a repeat performance of that! :D) Thanks for hosting!
ReplyDeleteOh goodness, that kind of flooding is no fun at all. Thanks for your kind words about that yellow dog...and glad to konw you tpp are a BA fan! xo
DeleteIrene, Thank you for hosting. I love your poem, Spring Storm. - I think because I'm a nature girl and gardener - I cannot wait until things start to bloom - after a few storms, of course! Brian Andreas's work is new to me but I love his simple sentiments - my kind of poetry! And, lastly, my husband and I pick up art by a local artist when we travel too! Its great to bring a piece home and display it in our homes, isn't it?!
ReplyDeleteSuch a great tradition...I just need more wall space! (I bet you do too!) xo
DeleteI love 'streaking a poem with lightning!" Thanks for sharing, Irene, and for hosting this week!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Matt - love me some lightning in a poem!
DeleteYour poetry machine is the coolest thing since sliced bread! Love the Brian Andreas poems you shared, and your booming, thunderous spring storm. Thanks for hosting.
ReplyDelete:) Thank you, Buffy. I wish I could teleport you here so you could turn the little knob! xo
DeleteI love salted caramel anything, Irene. Will have to check out the Bigelow tea. Wonderful poem - streak, boom, gush - wonderful words. I will look for more from Brian Andreas. Thank you!
ReplyDeleteRose, you are in for a treat! I discovered the tea by accident when they had some on an after-Christmas clearance rack. SO GOOD!
DeleteI think the poetry machine is inspired! Also enjoyed the Brian Andreas poetic artifacts and your poem is the cherry on top. The idea of a poem with thunder is something magical to imagine. Thank you for all this poetry goodness, Irene.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Alan, my autumn-loving friend!
DeleteIrene, there is so much to love here. Andreas' work is just so winsome. Thank you for sharing it all. And your tricube that stormed out of its constraints is perfect. Some of my favorite images are in the overflow, the "brilliant blooming things" I'm going to look for Bigelow Salted Caramel.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Denise! I do love a poem that has a mind of its own!
DeleteLove your tricube. "For you I gush a poem" is my eternal hope.
ReplyDeleteThank you for hosting!
That's my hope, too, Tricia. Thank you! xo
DeleteThank you for introducing me to Brian's work! I'll have to go find more of it, because I love what you've shared here. And your storm poem is delightful-- releasing the form at the end brings to mind water rushing free of a gutter downspout. Love it! Happy Poetry Month, and thank you for hosting.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Sarah. So many of BA's poems just make me stop and stand very still. Love!
DeleteIrene, thank you for hosting the Poetry Friday Roundup this week with your Picasso ArtSpeak poem and so much more poetic goodness.Brian Andrea's poem is filled with poetic goodness. Thanks for always sharing the wonder of words and the upstart of creativity. Every part of today's blog is intrigging. Life is too short!
ReplyDelete(My husband is a chief example of the brevity of life.)
Carol, I am sending big hugs your way. Thinking of you...
DeleteI love the mixing of poetry and visual art, and I was sure treated a lot to it here! Thank you for that and for hosting Poetry Friday. And also for reminding me how sweet it can be when a poem breaks out of its constraints.
ReplyDeleteThank you for visiting, Karin!
DeleteOh "streak a poem" and "boom a poem" and "gush a poem." Wowwow!! Also, I really love that the artwork incorporates words. I especially love that first one. How beautiful to be reminded of that. Thanks for hosting today! :)
ReplyDeleteYes! I love that reminder of what's really important. It can be so easy to get caught up in all the other storms.... xo
DeleteYour posts amaze me, Irene! I love Brian’s work, the sparkling images in your poems, and love the poetry machine! Happy NPM!
ReplyDeleteThank you, Janice! Happy NPM to you, my friend! xo
DeleteIrene, I am at the Fay B Kaigler Festival and missing you. Remembering our time last year. I love the anaphora of "For you I" and your constant commitment to poetry. Thanks for "gushing" us a poem and rounding us up today.
ReplyDeleteMargaret, I miss you too! I wish I could have heard your presentation. I know I'd be so inspired to write! xo
DeleteSo much to love in your stormy, gushing post today! Thank you for hosting, for the introduction to Brian Andreas's work, and for your inspiring poem! I just found the tricube form at https://www.writersdigest.com/write-better-poetry/tricubes-poetic-forms. Looks like fun!
ReplyDeleteJoAnn, I find myself going to the tricube when I don't know where to start...it helps get me going. Enjoy!
DeleteWow, bittersweetness, your passionate poem, art, a great video, and THAT POETRY GUMBALL MACHINE! So much love and brilliance in this post, Irene. Happy poetry month! xo
ReplyDeleteHello, hello, hello! This is my first wake-up of spring break and I slept in late. What a delicious beginning to a week away from my day job. I love Story People! I have lots of little creations that have made me happy to make--and sometimes, I wonder why? why am I making these crazy little things? But, really it's 'just because!' I love that! I will be exploring more of Brian Adreas' work. Thanks for that tip! And, a stormy morning for writing? That's sounds lovely. I'll take two, please! I'll give you three sunny days for those two stormy ones. The lightning and the boom especially! Thanks for the Poetry Month love!
ReplyDeleteWhat a fabulous poem, Irene. I will use it as a mentor text.
ReplyDeleteThe poem machine is terrific. For you I share the daffodils survinging a hailstorm.
ReplyDelete