Hello and Happy Poetry Friday! Be sure to visit Jone Rush MacCulloch for Roundup.
SO MUCH GOODNESS in our community this National Poetry Month. Hooray!
You're invited to view Tuesday 2-Minute Writing Tip 34, "What is Poetry?" It features one of my favorite poetry writing tools. Thanks for your support!
Today I'm away from my desk, en route to Maynard, Massachusetts, where Charles Waters and I will be sharing about our poetry anthologies at Maynard Book Festival. We're excited to re-connect with children's poet and librarian Mark Malcolm, whom we first met at Boyds Mills, the retreat center formerly known as Highlights. We're also super-excited to be meeting up with other Boyds Mills poets, Cindy Greene and Cathy Steinquist. You never know what will happen when poets get together! :)My first novel for adults Some Starry Night releases next Tuesday! To celebrate, you're invited to enter a Goodreads giveaway—we're offering 3 signed copies of the book! Please share with others you think may be interested in reading about Vincent van Gogh & Emily Dickinson meeting in 1886 Paris. Good luck!
Today's ArtSpeak: WOMEN features a piece by Helen Frankenthaler. She was influenced by Abstract Impressionism, but she did her own thing: a soak-stain technique that created a luminosity to her work. I love it! I found quite a few I'd like to write after. Again, titles matter. Here, I've selected an "untitled" piece so I could focus on my own emotional reaction to the piece. No doubt this poem was also influenced by this article about monarch butterflies being on the edge of extinction. ...and the reality of my driving experience. Thanks so much for reading!
I brake for butterflies
too often not fast
enough—
wings crash / against glass
I break
for butterflies
- Irene Latham
I am a butterfly gardener. I would like a bumper sticker with the message “I brake for butterflies!” I’m excited about your new book and am crossing fingers for the giveaway. I will buy it anyway.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Irene! Have fun at the book festival - so great that you will see Mark, Cindy, and Cathy!
ReplyDeleteIrene, I am always on my brakes! (Drives my husband nuts.) Congratulations on your novel release! I am so excited for you. Sending my love to you all at the Maynard Book Festival.
ReplyDeletedear irene, luv your flutter of words for the HelenF art. best travel wishes enroute to you & charles & hopes for marvelous meet-ups/presentations! very excited for all your forthcoming goodness between covers. all of us riding/driving these travel machines understand the sad windshield or side window event your poem shares. but,,,, but... hold onl... recently a wildlife bio. writer-pal sent me good monarch news regarding the verified increase in the overwintering areas of Mexico that the beauties shelter in, from reliable MONARCH BUTTERFLY FUND : https://monarchconservation.org/2025-2026-population-numbers-released#:~:text=Eastern%20monarch%20population%20occupied%202.93,increase%20over%20last%20year's%20area.
ReplyDeleteAppreciations for all your goodness, always.
I cannot wait for your adult novel! Will be ordering from my favorite bookstore
ReplyDeleteOh, Irene! "I brake for butterflies" should be a bumper sticker or t-shirt slogan. Congratulations on the release of your novel.
ReplyDeleteIrene, enjoy your trip to Massachusetts and being with other children's poets! Sounds like a great weekend. Thank you for the chance to win a copy of Some Starry Night. It sounds like it is going to be a wonderful read!
ReplyDeleteCongratulations on your new book! What an intriguing pairing. I brake for butterflies, too, (and all wildlife). It's heartbreaking when I'm too late. Enjoy the book festival, and say hi to Charles for me!
ReplyDeleteI love that piece of art, Irene, and your reaction to it. If someone doesn't brake for butterflies, I don't think I want to know them. :)
ReplyDeleteI've got your new book pre-ordered and can't wait!
How exciting to be the author of an ADULT novel! It's an exquisitely tasty idea. As for your butterfly reaction to the art--yes, and about the best use of brake/break that I've come across.
ReplyDelete