Flit-Fluttering with Butterflies and Arthur Sze

Hello and Happy Poetry Friday! Be sure to visit Linda at TeacherDance for Roundup.

It's been a busy week of travel and teaching and revising in the cracks! Life is full, just the way I like it. And I am full of amor mundi (love of the world), which I was reminded of in this article about Jane Goodall. Jane—may she rest in peace—and I have this particular trait in common.

Also, in celebration of our newest (25th) U.S. Poet Laureate Arthur Sze, here's a lovely poem. 

The Shape of Leaves

by Arthur Sze

Ginkgo, cottonwood, pin oak, sweet gum, tulip tree:
our emotions resemble leaves and alive
to their shapes we are nourished.

Have you felt the expanse and contours of grief
along the edges of a big Norway maple?
Have you winced at the orange flare

searing the curves of a curling dogwood?
I have seen from the air logged islands,
each with a network of branching gravel roads,

and felt a moment of pure anger, aspen gold.

click to read the rest of the poem

In answer to Arthur's questions: YES! Trees are the great witnesses, aren't they, to all our human-ness. I have my tree-friends for sure.

This week's Artspeak: PICASSO also speaks of trees...and those hopeful yellow butterflies that frequent the Alabama air in August. Thanks so much for reading!

yellow butterfly

gives flit-fluttering lessons

to August birch leaves

- Irene Latham

SOME STARRY NIGHT, my first novel for adults, coming in 2026!

 Hello and Happy Poetry Friday! Be sure to visit Matt at Radio, Rhythm, and Rhyme for Roundup.

It's October, aka my most favorite month! There's a lot going on, including Mother Nature's regular October show, which I adore. 

AND I'm excited to share about my debut historical fiction novel for adults, Some Starry Night, coming from Historium Press in 2026!

Some Starry Night imagines the story behind Vincent van Gogh's most famous painting, Starry Night, and the secret love affair with American poet Emily Dickinson that inspired it.

So...it's a marriage of two of my favorite things: poetry & art! And LOVE. Always, always love. 

Y'all I had SO MUCH FUN writing this book. I'll be sharing more about this very soon!

Next week, I'll be on tour with the Alabama Library Expo, traveling across the state of Alabama from south to north, stopping in a different city each day. My presentation focuses on "backyard history," so I'll be talking about my historical fiction titles, particularly the ones with Alabama ties, like Leaving Gee's Bend, Meet Miss Fancy, and African Town (co-written with Charles Waters). I'm super-excited to share this time with Alabama educators!

For this week's ArtSpeak: PICASSO, I've selected one of his animal line drawings, which I love! Somehow I missed writing after this particular one back in 2022 during my ArtSpeak: Animals year. 

I love these pieces! How satisfying might it be to be able to say I've written poems after all 24 drawings in this series? And what better time than now, during my Picasso year, to add some more poems to my tally? (I think this is number 15!) Thanks so much for reading.

the whisper of grass

as mouse disappears in hole

winter is coming

- Irene Latham