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
Oh how Sze's poem touches us, Irene, glory in all those trees and nature. I have seen the field of sandhill cranes and one whooping crane there, too, on a student trip years ago. Love the "flit-fluttering" lessons those butterflies are giving you! Thanks for your special shout-out to nature!
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing the Sze poem (he's totally new to me). Just lovely!! The image of that yellow butterfly flit-fluttering cheered me up. Charming!
ReplyDeleteOh, Irene, thank you for our new poet laureate's poem. I'm taken with "I am living at the edge of a new leaf." Picasso's butterfly sketch is as playful and fun as your haiku. "flit-fluttering lessons" - spectacular!
ReplyDeleteYour haiku matches Picasso's drawing perfectly, Irene! And thanks for the link to Arthur Sze's poem. I want to read more of his work.
ReplyDeleteWhat a legacy Jane left us! My son attended an outdoor preschool in a nearby forest, and it was so wonderful to see the wonder of natural world through his eyes.
ReplyDeleteOh, this is one of my favorite poems. Sze is such a marvelous choice. And your "flit-fluttering lessons" pair perfectly with this Picasso pick!
ReplyDeleteIrene, thank you for sharing Arthur Sze's poem. That last line is hope to carry with us, right?
ReplyDeleteThank you for some Arthur Sze and some Pablo P. I got so see some Picasso IRL while in NYC! So fun to say hello to old friends in museums!
ReplyDeleteButterflies are experts...the trees will learn a lot. Trees are some of my very best friends.
ReplyDeleteEach time I read the Sze poem, something else jumped out at me. I love when that happens. Your poem is so sweet, and I love the fluttering butterfly paralleling the fluttering birch leaves. What a perfect comparison! The sound of fluttering fall leaves is one of my favorite sounds.
ReplyDeleteThose contrasts bring a bit of bite into Sze’s nature filled poems, keeps you pondering… Yay “ yellow butterfly” lovely poem and art, thanks Irene!
ReplyDeleteIrene, I am dazzled by your new word, flit-fluttering, and the introduction to the new U.S. Poet Laureate Arthur Sze. His poem touched me. This weekend there are no butterflies but the bees are flit-fluttering around. You created a wonderful image poem with Picasso's artwork.
ReplyDeleteI love how your butterflies are interacting with the birch trees--such a delight! Thanks also for sharing the Sze poem. This line resonated with me: "And I have traveled along the contours
ReplyDeleteof leaves that have no name" and also "pure anger, aspen gold."