THOUSAND WORD THURSDAY

This one is for my son who loves zoo animals, particularly the big cats. (Photo taken at the zoo portion of Hershey Park in Hershey, PA.)

What must it be like for one of these big predators to watch the world from behind a fence? Imagine being trapped inside a body with all those raging hunting/survival instincts that must constantly be denied... Sounds like a mid-life crisis waiting to happen. :)

"Fate loves the fearless."

- James Russell Lowell

GOOD IS THE ENEMY OF GREAT

I say this all the time in my poetry workshops: good is the enemy of great. Meaning, revise, dig deep, revise again, dig deeper. And I do believe it's true.

Please note by "great," I don't mean "perfect." Is there even such a thing as a perfect poem? I think we writers get way too caught up in trying to be perfect.

Think about it: how many novels/poems/whatever have you started, only to tinker and tinker with the first chapter/first line/first page/? How many of those same starts did you actually finish??

See what I mean? This whole perfectionistic business really is a waste of time. And readers, I've noticed, are generally very forgiving. I myself have hung in there with a book 500 pages or more before actually being hooked -- and been so glad I did! Readers want a story SO BAD, we'll plow through pretty much anything. And if a character has caught our fancy, we will keep on plowing just to see what happens. So I'm thinking now is the time to let go of perfect and remember there is a such thing as GOOD ENOUGH. And guess what's after that?

GREAT.

"The more you know the less you need to say."

- Jim Rohn

BOOK REPORT

According to my editor, my revisions will be back in my hands this week. Which means my reading vacation will be over, at least for a while.



I mentioned before the book The God of Animals by Aryn Kyle. I really enjoyed this book -- it's told from a 6th grade girl's point of view, and details life on a working horse farm. Once upon a time I WAS that 6th grade horse-loving girl, so no wonder it spoke to me.

Also this weekend, upon the recommendation of a friend, I picked up Lance Armstrong's It's Not About the Bike. I cried and cried, and I learned a lot too. I'm putting it in the mail today to my father.


Another book I read this weekend was The Secret Life of Dust by Hannah Holmes. Talk about the interconnectedness of things... we have dust inside our bodies from dead stars. Amazing.



Today I am reading Tuck Everlasting by Natalie Babbitt, which I have never read before. So far, so good.

"If there's a book you really want to read but it hasn't been written yet, then you must write it."

~Toni Morrison

WHAT WOMEN WANT

For the men out there who might be wondering: women want to be loved. It's that simple.

Now check out today's quote. It's the same thing, really...

"I love a beautiful lady, I love a beautiful piece of furniture, I love beauty... I know what women want... they want to be beautiful."

- Valentino Garavani

THOUSAND WORD THURSDAY

Here's another MJ original taken at Port St. Joe, Florida. It is a very rare thing to see my brother without his camera, and I suppose that's one of the reasons he gets so many great shots. What good is being in the right place at the right time if one doesn't have a way to record it?

It's the same with writing. You gotta be ready to get those fleeting ideas and thoughts onto paper before they slip away again into the wild expanse of mind. Because I'm one of those writers who finds driving time = writing time, I keep a little digital recorder with me to capture those words. That way I don't have to actually stop.

"Chance favors the mind that is prepared."

- Louis Pasteur

THINK ON THIS

"Poets are the unacknowledged legislators of the world."

- Percy Bysshe Shelley

BREAKING DAWN

So I've been meaning to post something about my experience reading Breaking Dawn by Stephenie Meyer.

I was so so excited about this book. I just couldn't wait to find out how the whole Bella-Edward-Jacob love triangle was resolved. So for about three days I just sunk myself into the novel.

And I enjoyed it. There were certainly moments of brilliance -- the whole transformation scene jumps to mind.

And then there were parts that seemed way out of place, like the section written from Jacob's perspective. The ending was nice and neat without nearly the emotional bloodshed I was craving, and I suppose ultimately that is why I am left with sort of a flat feeling about the book.

It was a good diversion. But it didn't feed me the way New Moon did (my favorite of the saga). Hats off to Stephenie Meyer, though. The whole series is quite an accomplishment, and I cannot imagine the pressure she felt when writing the conclusion. Folks are so very attached to these characters, and so full of their own ideas about how things shoulda/woulda/coulda turned out...there's just no way to make all readers happy.

Now I am ankle deep in The God of Animals by Aryn Kyle.

"The difference between false memories and true ones is the same as for jewels: it is always the false ones that look the most real, the most brilliant."

- Salvador Dali

SHOWCASE SUNDAY

Dislocated
- for my brother, Forrest MicaJon Dykes

You didn’t tell me
we would have to climb
in before we could climb up.
I watched you scramble down,
a lizard on mossy rock,
and I forgot my inexperience,
how slick it was,
how late. Waterfalls

trickled down temporary paths,
our shoes squished through mud
and dying leaves on the way to the climbing site.
I joked, this must be why your wife left you.
You laughed easily,
time having worn down the sharp edges,
your hands busy finding holds
and fingering rope,
booming voice urging
hold on, reach, let go.

I’m not sure now
what made me fall.
But there I was, sprawled
across a flat rock,
mosquitoes moving in slow motion,
my arm suddenly taking a different shape.

Dislocated you said, and I held
it out for you, said fix itand turned away as you did
in one quick motion,
no hesitation, dislocation

a feeling you know
one never gets all the way used to,
the pop of bones settling back into place
reassuring but effortless
compared to the uncertain trail ahead,
the climb out of the canyon, the way
bad things happen
but the only thing to do
is keep going.

- Irene Latham

It's no mystery why I selected this poem to share today as I've been feeling a bit dislocated myself lately. I think anytime one is faced with life/death situations, it is a time for re-evaluation. And that, of course, leads to dislocation.

It helps to know that dislocation doesn't usually last... we do eventually find our way again. Just a couple of years after I wrote this poem I watched my brother fall in love, get remarried and become a father to two more gorgeous children.

I know my bones will eventually pop back into place. And once they have, I'll forget again what it's like to be here. Which is why it's important to write our way through the difficult times in life. So there's a record, and we can always remember the journey.

"One of the luckiest things that can happen to you in life is, I think, to have a happy childhood."

- Agatha Christie

THOUSAND WORD THURSDAY

Isn't this a great pic? Those chairs look like best friends whispering to one another, waiting for the cute boys to come on over and ask them to dance.

Is it possible for a photograph to contain hope and loneliness at the very same time?

Indeed it is possible. Thanks, MJ, as ever.

"Dreams are necessary to life."

- Anais Nin

LEFT RIGHT LEFT

To all my fellow lefties out there, Happy International Left Handers' Day!

Despite what you righties might be thinking, it really is a very cool thing to be left handed. I've always felt kinda extraordinary to sit at the special desk and write with the "wrong" hand.

Sure spiral notebooks are agony, and the ink always smears as my hand follows behind the pen, but that's okay. I get the benefit of using my right brain more often. And I am in such good company!

Oddly, despite what I learned about genetics, none of my children are left-handed. And even though none of my siblings are left-handed, and neither are our parents, each of them has a left-handed child! So, here's to US, lefties of the world!

"Love all, trust few, and do wrong to no one."

- William Shakespeare

SHOWCASE SUNDAY

Suburbia

The year it rained every day in November
she opened her front door wigless and browless
to anyone – neighbors, carpet cleaners,
little boys from down the street.

Her scalp didn’t shine the way you might expect,
instead begged touch like a baby rabbit,
fine whispers of hair falling across her temples
and just behind her ears.

She said I’m sorry about not wearing the wig
but I could tell she wasn’t sorry,
and why should she be? This woman,
this survivor, whom I’d welcomed
into the neighborhood with a note
and a box of brownies left on her front steps

and lived next to in perfect oblivious harmony –
watching her car come and go,
waving from the mailbox -
not knowing this was the third time
she’d fought this battle, in rooms
I might see into if the blinds were open

not knowing my good fortune
until that moment
when she opened the door
eyes blazing
you healthy bitch with all that hair.

- Irene Latham

I traveled to Tennessee this weekend to spend some time with my brother and his family, and while there, my lovely sister-in-law mentioned this poem. She is a home health nurse, and she said she has gotten this reaction before. It's completely understandable, of course... haven't we all felt that way before, when life deals us a hand that feels particularly unfair?

“Life is never fair, and perhaps it is a good thing for most of us that it is not.”

- Oscar Wilde

THOUSAND WORD THURSDAY

To Carrie whose baby boy will be born today: give it about fourteen years and this is what you have to look forward to. CONGRATULATIONS!!

"What is genius?- It is the power to be a boy again at will.”

- James M. Barrie

MORE BOOKS

So when times are tough, what do you do to comfort yourself? As we've been riding the awful ups and downs of my father's cancer diagnosis, I have found myself doing one of three things:

Reading.
Writing.
Tidying.

It doesn't take a psychologist to figure out I am doing my best to feel my power or have some control during a time when ultimately I am powerless and have no control whatsoever. Whatever works, right?

Mostly I've been catching up on my son's required reading from last year. Yesterday it was The Dark is Rising by Susan Cooper and The Whipping Boy by Sid Fleischman (whose son and Newbery Award winner Paul Fleischman is coming to Birmingham in October!).

And just today I got my hands on a copy of Breaking Dawn by Stephenie Meyer. I was sorry to miss all the big bookstore events celebrating the release last weekend, but this girl needs her sleep. I'll let you know what I think! Meanwhile I am avoiding any info. I want to experience what Bella experiences.

Thanks again to everyone who has sent me messages about my father. It really helps.

"Selling the piece is only and exclamation point, a spot of punctuation."

- Jane Yolen

SHOWCASE SUNDAY

Nocturne
- after Van Gogh’s The Starry Night

That it should be
the cypress
and not the steeple
that reaches the heavens

that night should
roil electric
over the sleeping town

stars pulsing
in staccato rhythm,
billowing
across the sky
as if the breath of gods

and this is where
we find ourselves:
hidden

in blue shadows
tracing constellations
on milky skin.

- Irene Latham

In honor of the solar eclipse on the other half of the world, I give you my Nocturne. The sky is wonderfully amazing, but consider skin...

"Men go abroad to wonder at the heights of mountains, at the huge waves of the sea, at the long courses of rivers, at the vast compass of the ocean, at the circular motions of the stars; and they pass by themselves without wondering."

- Saint Augustine

IT TASTES VERY FINE

Have you heard what Phoenix found? Here's why scientists are celebrating.

Hey, there's gotta be a poem in there somewhere...

"Nothing in life is to be feared; it is only to be understood."

- as found in a recent fortune cookie (Lucky Numbers 3, 5, 11, 21, 31, 40)

THOUSAND WORD THURSDAY

My brother MJ is just back from a trip to Port St. Joe, FL, which is great for a whole bunch of reasons, not the least of which is this pic. Is he good, or what?

It reminds me of my editor's notes last draft... something about how I needed not to refer to light so much. That things were always "catching the light." Apparently my mind is quite fond of that image.

"Light be the earth upon you, lightly rest."

- Euripides

HOPE DIES LAST

So I just finished The Devil's Arithmetic by Jane Yolen. It's about the Holocaust, and you might think with the black cloud that has settled over my 2008 that it's much too dark a subject for me right now. But here's the thing: books like these are infused with a hope so strong it actually makes me feel better.

Also, specifically in this book, there is a idea that I've really latched onto. The main character has time traveled from present day back to 1942, and she wants to warn those around her that the Germans are lying, that the "resettlement" will tear their families apart, that the ovens are not for baking, but for death. But as she watches those around her, their faces lit with hope, she realizes she can't take that away from them. She realizes her knowledge of the future will not benefit them at all. Ultimately she cannot strip them of the only thing they have left.

I'm thinking hope is quite a gift to give someone. And who knows what all a person might overcome when armed with such a powerful emotion?

“We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars.”

- Oscar Wilde

SHOWCASE SUNDAY

Creed

I believe if you follow
the wall far enough
you will eventually find a door
that no god is going to open for you –
just you with your gnarled fingers
curling around the knob.

I believe in dirt under fingernails,
do-it-yourself mud puddles,
the smell of fresh-cut grass.

I believe in serendipity,
coincidence, random
accidents that defy explanation
because there is no explaining pain
or the lack of it.

I believe whatever is, is;
“meant to be” is fig growing
on an imaginary tree.

I believe Adam and Eve still
inhabit our gardens, whisper
to serpents and savor apples,
make wild love one minute,
drop their eyes and cover
themselves the next.

I believe in cliffs that become canyons,
canyons that cradle rivers,
rivers that leave
and keep on leaving
every day there’s earth, air, sky.

I believe the ocean is the womb
where we begin and end,
the shore with its grit and shards of shell
the battlefield where we fight
our most natural impulses,
our tongues parched, our skin blistered
and raw, our voices crying
to be heard and understood,
for someone, anyone, to
save me, goddammit, I’m drowning here.

I believe the wind carries
our secrets like seeds,
plants them on deserted islands
where they grow into trees with coconuts,
sweet milk waiting for the washed-up,
the down-on-their-luck, the ones
whose cups are empty
but who somehow find
the strength to climb.

I believe there is nothing more real
than love you can’t see,
nothing more powerful than our minds
surging in dream,
our sleeping legs pumping like pistons
until almost, almost…
then waking in a bed with the one
you love more than anything,
aching to touch him
but not touching him
because there is such sweet
torture in waiting.

I believe in dust to dust
and grey skies and choices
that are neither right not wrong.

I believe forgiveness is the best way
to lighten a load, yet without the yoke
one never learns all he is capable of.

I believe everything will be okay,
and even when it’s not
if you follow the wall far enough,
you will find a door.

- Irene Latham

This poem is a few years old and first appeared in POEMS FROM THE BIG TABLE. I try to write a creed poem every couple of years, as I find my belief system is constantly changing and evolving. Of course, there are elements that remain the same. Like how I have always and WILL always believe in doors.

"Say little and say it well."

- Irish proverb

A BRAND NEW DAY

Okay, well much as I loved the artsy black, I decided I needed to lighten the place up. And what better day to do it than a rainy Saturday morning when I have just helped my father out the door and watched him drive toward the next leg of this new journey?

Also, there's this new award to celebrate. It's from Alison who always ALWAYS brightens my day. Thanks for being there, Alison! And I am sending it to Michelle whose attitude about life inspires me. She WILL be heard.

Thanks also for all the sweet messages about my father's illness. So nice to know I am not alone.

"What lies behind us and what lies before us are small matters compared to what lies within us."

- Ralph Waldo Emerson

THE IMPORTANT THING

Ever heard of this book by Margaret Wise Brown? It reads like music, or poetry.

Here is my favorite part: "The important thing about an apple is that it is round. It is red. You bite into it, and it is white inside, and the juice splashes in your face, and it tastes like an apple, and it falls off a tree. But the important thing about an apple is that it is round."

The important thing about today is my father is coming. It is July. The sun is blazing, and it is steamy outside, and the hands on the clock click click click, and it feels like there is not enough time. But the important thing about today is my father is coming.

“The apple tree never asks the beech how he shall grow, nor the lion the horse, how he shall take his prey.”

- William Blake

THE "C" WORD

I have a new LEAST favorite word. Or perhaps it has always been my least favorite word, only I am just now aware of it.

Cancer.

We just found out my father has colon cancer. And there is nothing I can say about it that hasn't already been said. Anyone whose life has been touched by cancer knows it has the power to change all sorts of things. Things you can't even imagine until it happens.

Ironically my father is the Executive Director of Bismarck Cancer Center. So he is pretty much in the best place he could possibly be in terms of treatment. But I don't guess I have to tell you it's a long way from Alabama.

There has been a lot written about the experience of cancer, including this blog. My father is also writing about his experience, and I am grateful for that. I feel very very greedy for his words right now.

The graphic above appears on all the literature for Bismarck Cancer Center. I've always loved the inconquerable hope infused in those words. I guess ultimately that's what it boils down to. Hope. And courage.

"Generally, by the time you are Real, most of your hair has been loved off, and your eyes drop out and you get loose in the joints and very shabby. But these things don't matter at all, because once you are Real you can't be ugly, except to people who don't understand."

- Margery Williams, THE VELVETEEN RABBIT

A SECRET LIFE

So I had a lot of fun with the high schoolers and their advisers, and the keynote went really well, EXCEPT... in my initial nervousness I forgot to include part of my speech!

The speech was titled WINDMILLS AND OTHER POTS OF GOLD, but it could have been titled EVERYTHING I NEED TO KNOW I LEARNED FROM POETRY.

One of the things I did was share poems that have guided me on this whole writing journey, and I was so annoyed when I realized I had forgotten THIS one, because it is one of my most favorites ever:

Secret Life

By Stephen Dunn

Why you need to have one
is not much more mysterious than
why you don't say what you think
at the birth of an ugly baby.
Or, you've just made love
and feel you'd rather have been
in a dark booth where your partner
was nodding, whispering yes, yes,
you're brilliant. The secret life
begins early, is kept alive
by all that's unpopular
in you, all that you know
a Baptist, say, or some other
accountant would object to.
It becomes what you'd most protect
if the government said you can protect
one thing, all else is ours.
When you write late at night
it's like a small fire
in a clearing, it's what
radiates and what can hurt
if you get too close to it.
It's why your silence is a kind of truth.
Even when you speak to your best friend,
the one who'll never betray you,
you always leave out one thing;
a secret life is that important.

For a really really long time, writing was my secret life. I wrote all sorts of stuff but I just shoved it inside a drawer. I didn't share it with anyone. Even my husband says he didn't know at the time that he married a writer. I'm thinking maybe that's a good thing? Kind of like boiling a frog? :)

"We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit."

- Aristotle

TODAY'S THE DAY

So after a year of planning and some last-minute madness making nametags and stuffing conference folders, I am off to Tuscaloosa for a fun writing weekend courtesy of Alabama Writers Conclave.

But before I get there, I am stopping off with my sixteen-year-old niece at Alabama Scholastic Press Association's Long Weekend to deliver my keynote WINDMILLS AND OTHER POTS OF GOLD as well as teach some poetry editing tricks to some very dedicated high school literary magazine students. Sounds like fun, doesn't it?

Be back Monday with all the details... hope everyone has a wonderful weekend!

"Writing has laws of perspective, of light and shade, just as painting does, or music. If you are born knowing them, fine. If not, learn them. Then rearrange the rules to suit yourself."

— Truman Capote

THOUSAND WORD THURSDAY

Okay, this one is a few years old, but I just ran across it and had to share. None of my kids take baths anymore -- they are guys who take showers. And dear Lord, do they need 'em! Between feet and armpits, it can get pretty smelly around here. Which is why I am feeling all nostalgic for that sweet little kid smell... sigh. They grow up too fast.

"At the entrance, my bare feet on the dirt floor, Here, gusts of heat; at my back, white clouds. I stare and stare. It seems I was called for this: To glorify things just because they are."

- Czeslaw Milosz

LOST IN TRANSLATION

Have you seen this bit about the Chinese government removing signs with inaccurate translations before the Olympics? Some of them are pretty funny:

Having fun prohibited.
Dying right here is strictly prohibited.
If you are stolen, call the police at once.

Others are offensive, so proceed to above link with caution.

Meanwhile, I love the Olympics, especially the swimming and diving events. Back when synchronized swimming was an official event, my sister and I worked for hours and hours perfecting routines in our backyard swimming pool. Now THAT was fun.

"All good writing is swimming under water and holding your breath."

- F. Scott Fitzgerald

SHOWCASE SUNDAY

Like Don Quixote

You must expect some disasters.
At some point

there will be a fire.
It will eat the kitchen cabinets

stretch its long tongue to the ceiling
spit black gas into the air.

At first you will stand in wonder
you will see faces in the flames

bright eyes burning. Then you will
remember the children

their cheeks flushed with fear
their voices squeals now, high-

pitched and feverish.
You will be glad

it is only a fire. You will
be glad when no one gets hurt.

And once the painters come
to white-wash the ceiling

you will forget it ever happened.
But next time you sit down to write

sparks will fly
from your fingers.

- Irene Latham

This poem was inspired by an actual fire in my kitchen. I was talking on the phone and had closed my bedroom door for just a moment to keep out the kid-noise when they started screaming even louder. I thought I heard "fire" in there, but I seriously thought they were just being rowdy. Then I smelled smoke.

Turned out I had left a skillet with grease still in it on the stove then turned on the wrong burner to boil water for macaroni and cheese. The grease caught fire, and by the time I got into the kitchen, the microwave above the stove was melting. Scary.

"If you are scared, embarrassed or hurt, it means you never take chances,”

- Julia Soul

MEET THE 10' ERS

Good news: a few of us who have children's books coming out in 2010 have found each other. Check us out at 2010: A Book Odyssey. And if you have a mg or ya also debuting in 2010, please join us!

And as we are going with a space theme (you know I am loving that!), check out this quote:

"In science it often happens that scientists say, 'You know that's a really good argument; my position is mistaken,' and then they would actually change their minds and you never hear that old view from them again. They really do it. It doesn't happen as often as it should, because scientists are human and change is sometimes painful. But it happens every day. I cannot recall the last time someting like that happened in politics or religion."

- Carl Sagan, 1987 CSICOP Keynote Address

FIVE FOR FRIDAY

1. Working on a keynote speech I am scheduled to present next weekend at the Alabama Scholastic Press Association's Long Weekend. I'm calling it "Windmills and Other Pots of Gold." It's about dreams and how to make them come true.

2. Going to see WALL-E today for the second time. My eight-year-old LOVES it. Me too, actually. What a sweet love story.

3. Been reading a book called BLUE by Joyce Moyer Hostetter. It's historical fiction, about a 13 year old North Carolina girl's experience during the polio epidemic. Good writing AND good story!

4. My newest addiction is Jiffy oatmeal muffins. You know the mix that comes in the little square box for like 88 cents at Wal-Mart? Add an egg and some milk, and voila! Seriously, these things are yummy.

5. I need a new outfit for next week's keynote. I'm thinking something red. Or blue. But not one of these maternity-looking get-ups. What has happened to the clothing industry??

"When in doubt, wear red."

- Bill Blass

TRUE LOVE?

So DeAnna picked Jesse. I would have picked the other guy, but hey, it wasn't my show. (I mean, hello! Did you see that adorable game Jason made for her?) They seem really happy, and I love what she said about choosing him because he was the one guy she couldn't live without. Oh boy, do I know that feeling! May they be happy.


“When we are happy we are always good, but when we are good we are not always happy.”

- Oscar Wilde

GIVE ME CHOCOLATE

What's better than a fortune cookie? How 'bout a piece of Dove dark chocolate inside a red foil wrapper that is stamped with a message:

"Be mischievous. It feels good."
"Decorate your life."
"Count the stars."
"You're allowed to do nothing."

Pretty cool, eh? And tasty. Excuse me while I go have another. :)

"Strength is the capacity to break a chocolate bar into four pieces with your bare hands - and then eat just one of the pieces."

- Judith Viorst

SHOWCASE SUNDAY

Sunday Drive

We’re heading south on 119
while the Spirit rover is inching
its way across Mars.

I think I’m pregnant.

Spirit parks in front of a football-sized rock.
I tell no one what I think
is happening inside my body.

Spirit pauses
then sends signals back to Earth.
You’re driving too fast.

In a day or two Spirit
is supposed to reach out its arm
and examine the rock, determine minerals and elements.

If it’s true, I’ll want to keep the baby.

Spirit should then drill into the rock
to reveal its interior.

If it’s true, I’ll have to tell you.

The President says he wants to send a man to Mars.
I say, Mars is not the moon.
You will say
our lives are going backwards.

Spirit is waiting for its twin, Opportunity.

I am waiting
for pictures that show me
more than red silt and desolate rock.

- Irene Latham

I've got a little science-geek in me apparently... I'm fascinated by all things space-related. I love reading about the mysteries of the cosmos, and anytime there's a crew in space I pay attention. Fortunately we live just a hop skip and a jump from NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, so space pics and the latest exploration info always makes the newspaper. Wish I could dash over to the other side of the world for the Aug. 1 total eclipse of the sun. Sigh. Not this year...

"From my close observation of writers... they fall into two groups: 1) those who bleed copiously and visibly at any bad review, and 2) those who bleed copiously and secretly at any bad review."

= Isaac Asimov

NO DAY BUT TODAY

One of the shows we saw in New York was RENT. I don't know why exactly I wanted to see it again-- 12 years ago when we saw it the first time I wasn't sure I would survive the noise. Plus I was pregnant with Andrew, and every time those speakers would screech, he would start jumping. But when we were standing there in the TKTS line and the choices were getting slimmer (very few shows open on Monday -- would have liked to have seen WICKED, MAMMA MIA! or even PHANTOM OF THE OPERA for the billionth time), I heard myself say, "how 'bout Rent?"

So off we went. And it was better this time. Still too loud for me and seems a little outdated now, but I was moved by it and I'm glad we saw it again. According to the billboards and the graffiti covering the outside walls of the theater, the show closes for good on September 7. Check it out. And try to wrap your head around this quote:

"The opposite of war is not peace, it's creation."

- Jonathan Larson

INDEPENDENCE DAY ALREADY?!

Where oh where has this little year gone?

We are just back from a quick trip to New York City, and on a bus tour the guide informed us that we are now closer to the next New Year's Eve than we are to the last. Is that really true?

Anyhow, we had a wonderful wonderful time... but I mean it is SO good to be back in good ol' steamy wide-open Birmingham! And once we pick up the guys tonight from camp, our family will be complete again.

Hope tonight everyone enjoys some finger-lickin' good barbeque and some snap cracklin' fireworks!

"I guess we all like to be recognized not for one piece of fireworks, but for the ledger of our daily work."

- Neil Armstrong

SHOWCASE SUNDAY

I Remember the City

Not for fried eggs
and andouille sausage at Mother’s

not for the palmist at Jackson Square
who declared our life lines identical

not for our sore feet or the humidity
or the slow stride of the Mississippi.

I remember the city for The Famous Door
at the corner of Bourbon and Conti:

You were wearing a green dress
and you were dancing

with a boy you’d just met,
smiling the way a girl smiles

before she believes in hurricanes
or experiences rising water,

before she knows how completely
everything changes once levees are breached,

how a decade of friendship is not the first
thing lost, but the one

that swells after the waters recede –
the door that sticks,

the mold that makes a garden of the ceiling
and the boy not quite a memory.

- Irene Latham

Ever lost a friend to something that seemed to come out of nowhere? Sigh. It happens.

"Many people die with their music still in them. Why is this so? Too often it is because they are always getting ready to live. Before they know it, time runs out."

- Oliver Wendell Holmes

MY SISTER IS ON HER WAY!

Could I be more excited? It'll be a quick visit, but I've learned it doesn't take much sister time to totally rejuvenate me. And someday I WILL write a sisters novel. I promise. But right now I gotta go devil some eggs!

"Learn the wisdom of compromise, for it is better to bend a little than to break."

- Jane Wells

THOUSAND WORD THURSDAY

Here's one of the guys at Gettysburg... they all thought the cannons were pretty cool. And I can vouch for that whole thing you've heard about boys and guns: you really can make a gun out of just about anything. I guess boys are just hard-wired for warfare.

"I am looking for a lot of men who have an infinite capacity to not know what
can't be done."

- Henry Ford

WELCOME TO A NEW POET-BLOGGER!

Ever heard of the word "turmotion"?

You heard it here first: check out my friend Michelle's new blog... she's a poet in Tennessee who's braving the cyber-waters and "exploring her artistic side." Let's give her some love!

"There is only one journey: going inside yourself."

- Rainer Maria Rilke

BUMPER SNICKER

Saw this on my drive downtown this morning: "Reagan 2008."

Do I detect a bit of political disenchantment? :)

Politics is so not my thing... but if it is YOUR thing, I sure hope this political season has lived up to all its promise.

"These are but wild and whirling words."

- William Shakespeare

DON'T TREAD ON ME

After watching another episode of the HBO John Adams miniseries, I've changed my mind about Ben Franklin. He's not interesting - he's a jerk! He does have some really great quotes though. But I'm through with him. My thoughts turn now to Mr. Jefferson. Now here's a man with depth. I think surviving great loss does that to a person...

"Blessed is he who expects nothing, for he shall never be disappointed."

- Benjamin Franklin

SHOWCASE SUNDAY

Boy with Cello

Rescued from a pawn shop
where it stood for years
with its neck broken, body nicked
and stripped of strings

it arrives in a box
restrung, refurbished
and the boy cradles it in his arms
the way one holds a sleeping child,
fingers caressing ever so slightly,
breath the only sound.

Then the boy takes the bow,
pulls it across the strings,
and the cello begins to tell its story,
each deliberate stroke a query
the cello answers in its clear, resolute voice.

When does love begin? The first note,
or the second, in the lonely corner,
the unopened box, the Beethoven the boy
absorbed while still in the womb?

Perhaps in the merging of one’s half-
formed dream and the other’s awakening,
when one speaks without speaking
and the other begins to sing.

- Irene Latham

The movie we saw last night - Get Smart - featured Beethoven's Ode to Joy. It was a fun movie, and the big orchestra scene reminded me of this poem. I wrote it a few years ago when my son first start playing the cello.

Speaking of joy: I am off to poetry workshop in just a bit, and I've got three poems ready to workshop. This, after a sizeable drought brought on by my work on the novel. I'm so excited!

"Don't compromise yourself. You are all you've got."

- Janis Joplin

WITH LIBERTY AND JUSTICE FOR ALL

Now that it's out on DVD, we have been watching the HBO miniseries John Adams. What's great about it is there's a special feature that puts these little pop-ups on the screen that provide extra historical information. I'm loving it! And I gotta tell you, these are not the men I was introduced to in school. These guys have personality, wit, attitude. Talk about making history come alive.

So far, I am most interested in Ben Franklin. What a character he was!

"I have loved the stars too fondly to be fearful of the night."

- Sarah Williams

THOUSAND WORD THURSDAY

Here's the view from the front drive of Eisenhower's Farm in Gettysburg.

I gotta tell you, me and Ike have the same vision of retirement. There is a barn nearby where they raised Angus cattle, but mostly it feels like being on an island with no other structures (besides the home!) in sight. I loved everything about it.

Plus, as part of the tour, they let kids (ages 7-12) train and then "apply" to be Junior Secret Service Agents. So now Eric is official. :)

"One look ahead is better than two looks behind."

- Irish proverb

ON SELF-PORTRAITS

My youngest son loves art. Yesterday in his drawing class he created yet another self-portrait. I asked him what new thing did he learn about drawing faces, and he launched into this whole explanation about how you place the ears. He amazes me.

And it got me thinking about Normal Rockwell's Triple Portrait that appeared on the cover of Saturday Evening Post in 1960. It's such a great piece because it says something about our human-ness, how we see what we want to see. And how sometimes what we see in ourselves is completely inaccurate. Maybe it's wishful thinking, or UN-wishful thinking.

So how does this relate to writing? One the great great things about writing is you can create characters that are as much like you or unlike as you desire. You can become what you see in the mirror without all the risk and potential heartache of ACTUALLY becoming that person. And if it doesn't turn out well in your manuscript, you can delete it. You can be absolutely anybody you want to be, including your actual self. I mean, how great is that?


"Life is a process of becoming, a combination of states we have to go through. Where people fail is that they wish to elect a state and remain in it. This is a kind of death."

-Anais Nin

TWILIGHT

Probably I am one of the last people on the planet to read this book by Stephanie Meyer, but better late than never, right?

Don't know why it took me so long to dive in. Wait, let me rephrase that: I am terribly sorry it took me so long to dive in, because I am loving this book! I guess it's the whole vampire hook that turned me off initially -- just not my thing.

But you know what IS my thing?

Love. Big bad ridiculous defcon 5 total all-out thermonuclear rim rocking mother of all LOVE. And turns out that's what this book is really about. And you know what else is great? The story goes on. I understand the fourth book in the series will be released very soon. VERY exciting.

"Gravitation cannot be held responsible for people falling in love. How on earth can you explain in terms of chemistry and physics so important a biological phenomenon as first love? Put your hand on a stove for a minute and it seems like an hour. Sit with that special girl for an hour and it seems like a minute. That's relativity."

- Albert Eistein

SHOWCASE SUNDAY

Peeling an Orange

After years of no words
you came for the weekend,
prodigal father spotted now
by sun and age, hair a beach
of white sand, bare in places.

This is what's real, you said,
when it was time for you to leave.
Not meaning we should forget the past,
just, this is what's important now.

I reached for your hand
across the oak table with its
nicks and scratches, our shared
history and separate ones etched
in each knot and blemish.

This is what's real:
I pulled your car around so that you
might avoid the flight of stairs,
watched your knee nearly
give way on the one front step.
Carried your bag, tucked it in
the trunk, gave you a kiss.

You waved, then I watched
your car disappear below the hill,
street empty, birds silent.
Went inside and peeled an orange.
Let the pieces drop to that place
where our hands had been.
Savored the sweetness.

- Irene Latham

For you, Papa. Of course. Happy Father's Day!


"You can't cross a sea by merely staring into the water."

- Rabindranath Tagore (1913 Nobel laureate for literature)

WHEN THINKING SMALL MEANS THINKING BIG

I've just been thinking about my writing habits, and I realized something that might be important: most all of my prose pieces have their roots in a poem. Somehow it helps me to at first think small, to work to contain an idea in just a few lines.

Perhaps there's something about that sparseness that allows the idea to grow? Maybe it's like rests in music -- maybe for me writing is really all about the white space on the paper. Something to think about...

"I would sooner live in a cottage and wonder at everything than live in a castle and wonder at nothing."

- Joan Winmill Brown

THOUSAND WORD THURSDAY

Here's another pic from our trip to Pennsylvania.

Clotheslines like this one were everywhere in Lancaster County, usually with the clothes arranged by color and organized by size. It spoke to me of life with children and work and love. Such an intimate thing, really -- washing clothes that protect tender skin.


"The best way to know God is to love many things."


- Vincent van Gogh

WHEN IN MISSISSIPPI

What a great time we had at the MAKING HISTORY COME ALIVE writing retreat! Carolyn Yoder was an endless source of information, and you could not ask for a more nurturing group of writers than this bunch. Big thanks to Sarah Campbell for all her hard work in pulling off such a great event.

And to the cooks at the Gray Center: Way to feed us a gen-u-ine Mississippi supper on Saturday night! There was fried catfish fillets, blackeyed peas, turnip greens, and cornbread. I mean, you made a southern girl proud! And it got me thinking how unique each corner of the world is... here in Alabama we'd have served hushpuppies and coleslaw with our catfish. Interesting, eh? And just the kind of details that should find their way into those "deep south" stories Carolyn wants for Highlights Magazine and Calkins Creek. I can't wait to see what all of you come up with!

"To imagine yourself inside another person... is what a storywriter does in every piece of work; it is his first step, and his last too, I suppose."

- Eudora Welty

SHOWCASE SUNDAY

Rhett Remembers

When I think of her
I think of stairs:

The breathless staircase
at Twelve Oaks she climbed

in a huff, apple-green gown
the sweet to her sharp. Ashley

stood between us, the one
blockade I could not run.

Then later in our own home
when she fell and Bonnie fell

and I fell
into the universe’s black

mouth that kept one
but spit the rest of us out.

She had the same look
that last day

as she had the morning
she paraded into jail

draped in drapes. I’ve seen
Tara under her nails,

felt the callouses. I know
she’ll come after me

no matter what
I said at the foot of the stairs.

Why fight a war
that’s long since been lost?

- Irene Latham

Something about being in hot sultry Mississippi made me want to post this one about hot sultry Scarlett. :)

"I want you to faint. This is what you were meant for. None of the fools you've ever know have kissed you like this, have they? Your Charles, or your Frank, or your stupid Ashley!"

- Rhett Butler, GONE WITH THE WIND by Margaret Mitchell

MAKING HISTORY COME ALIVE

I'm hitting the road today, heading for Jackson, Mississippi, where I will attend a writing retreat sponsored by Southern Breeze and facilitated by Carolyn Yoder, editor at Highlights for Children magazine (among other things). Me and thirty or so other writers are gonna write and learn and share the thing we are so passionate about.

But before all that I am stopping in Meridian for lunch with my writing pal Richelle. I'm excited!!

"Personal relationships are the fertile soil from which all advancement, all success, all achievement in real life grows."

- Ben Stein

THOUSAND WORD THURSDAY

Here is the first pic in a series from our family road trip last week to Pennsylvania. We spent four nights in Lancaster County where we woke to the smell of sunshine and cow manure. We learned a lot about the Amish culture... turns out they choose not to use motorized transportation because they want to keep their loved ones close to home. There are certainly a family-oriented community, and I find that attractive and enviable. And imagine all the calories you'd burn getting around on one of these foot-powered scooters?

"We are each other's business: we are each other's magnitude and bond."

- Gwendolyn Brooks

WICKED

Now that the latest draft of THE WITCHES OF GEE'S BEND is safely in the hands of my editor, I miraculously have time for other things I enjoy, like reading.

Currently my nightstand is full, but what's on top is WICKED by Gregory Maguire. I picked it up after reading Deb's post about the musical. And you know, it's really right up my alley what with the whole poems in women's voices project I've got going on. And once upon a time I was Glinda the good witch in the 8th Grade performance of The Wizard of Oz... so that's what I'm reading. Thanks, Deb, for the recommendation. I'm really enjoying it.

"Good is the enemy of great."

- Jim Collins

SHOWCASE SUNDAY

Feeding the Geese

After three years they welcome
us with hiss and honk,
their necks curving like question marks,
and we wonder if they know

we are the ones
who have created their hunger
with our plastic sacks
and outstretched arms,

our voices gentle and admiring
as we exclaim over the journey
the geese make each year from Canada
to share a quarter-acre pond
with a fleet of Japanese koi
that forever swarm the surface,

their scaled bodies thick
and lethargic in the murky water
while the one an artist tattooed on your ankle
swims in ink the color of Florida,
its disposition sweeter
and no less persevering

please, I say
promise me

we’ll still visit this pond
even when the Gatsby-glow darkens
and your tattoo fades to grey,
our American dream not new
not even American
not painted on
but pressed in with needles
inside a smoky room,
neon light in the window flashing open

and the geese –
we’ll watch them waddle away
when the bag is empty,
koi left to swim
the same hopeful circle.

- Irene Latham

We have lots of goslings at the local lakes right now. Can't get too close to them though... those Mama Geese sure are fiesty!

"I used to be Snow White. But I drifted."

- Mae West

THOUSAND WORD THURSDAY

Okay, this pic would benefit from a bit of editing, but I didn't want to wait to share it. I took it at the Nickelodeon Suites in Orlando, Florida, the last time we traveled to Disney World. (While Paul and the kids were getting slimed, I was wandering around the lake taking nature pics.)

Don't you love that question-mark shadow? Check back for Sunday's showcase poem that was inspired (in part) by this photo.

“Question everything. Learn something. Answer nothing.”

- Euripides (Greek playwright, c. 480-406 BC)

GANDHI SAID IT BEST

I read once that middle children are the fiercest competitors, despite what you may have heard about those high-achieving firstborn kids.

And I gotta tell you, as a middle child who also knows that peacekeeper role really well, I think it's true about the competitive spirit being alive and well in those who find themselves in the middle. Which is why I love this Gandhi quote. Because his name is almost synonymous with "peace" yet he was also a fighter.

"First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win."

- Mahatma Gandhi

SHOWCASE SUNDAY

On Monday I Flew to Selma

with my brother’s friend Bob
in his little green 210 Cessna
and my hair was up in a ponytail
and I had on this cute pink top

and on the way back
he let me take the wheel
and it’s very sensitive, that wheel,
even the slightest movement
makes the plane move
and I wasn’t nervous, no,
not with Bob there,
but it wasn’t much fun, either –
too much responsibility,
but oh boy how the world looks
different from up there,
the cars all tiny
and Bob all big right there beside me
our shoulders touching
Whaddoyathink, Kid? he shouted
over the noise of the motor

and three days later
my head is still spinning a little,
I’m so happy we’re friends,
me and Bob,
like he could be my father,
but he’s not,
and he could be my lover,
but he’s not,
He’s Bob, and the slightest
little move he made in that plane,
I felt it.

- Irene Latham

I really did ride to Selma with my friend Bob... it was my first time to be up in a small plane, and it was really cool but it also made me feel very fragile and small. Since then Bob has also taken me up in a different plane -- I think he had high hopes of turning me into a pilot. Alas. It's not for me. But I wouldn't have known that had I not given it a whirl.

"If you limit your choices only to what seems possible or reasonable, you disconnect yourself from what you truly want, and all that is left is a compromise."

- Robert Fritz

DRAFT FOUR IS OUT THE DOOR

Whew! I'm "happy as a dog with two tails." (that one courtesy of Mark Twain, from The Adventures of Thomas Jefferson Snodgrass)

THOUSAND WORD THURSDAY

I took the kids to the park the other day, and this is what I got for my trouble.

Doesn't it look like someone took a giant paintbrush and just swirled those clouds all around? Or maybe the setting sun is the jar of paint. I don't know, but it totally inspires me. Hope it does something for you too!

"Enthusiasm is one of the most powerful engines of success. When you do a thing, do it with all your might. Put your whole soul into it. Stamp it with your own personality. Be active, be energetic, be enthusiastic and faithful, and you will accomplish your object. Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm."

- Ralph Waldo Emerson

WRITING BY EAR

As many of you know, I am all about the interaction of the arts. So far for me, this has mostly involved combining poetry with visual art in the WHICH CAME FIRST - POETRY OR PAINT? exhibit with poems by me and art by Liz Reed.

But how exciting is this? Literature and MUSIC.

If you are as intrigued as I am, submit something to my friend and fellow poet Marianne Worthington. (This is on my short list - yes, Marianne, I will be sending you something just as soon as I write it!)

M O T I F is a new anthology series published annually by MotesBooks of Louisville, KY

Each volume in the series focuses on a theme. The first is MUSIC.
Anthology series title: M O T I F
Working title for Volume 1: WRITING BY EAR
Theme for this volume: music
Editor: Marianne Worthington
Submission deadline: August 5, 2008
Publication: November 2008

The inaugural Motif Anthology will accept submissions of these lengths:
prose - under 3,000 words
poetry/lyrics - up to 3 pieces.
All genres will be considered as long as music is referenced in the works. Submissions may address music either directly or indirectly, but the presence of music should figure significantly and artfully in the piece.

Submissions may be poems, short stories, song lyrics, short memoirs, essays, letters, creative nonfiction, or other forms. Combinations of forms are acceptable up to the limits described herein.

Each contributor whose work is accepted will receive one (1) complimentary copy of the book upon publication as payment. Contributors will also receive an ongoing contributor's discount (equivalent to wholesale pricing) for unlimited purchase of additional copies to use or resell.

Marketing outlets will include Amazon.com, BarnesandNoble.com, and the publisher's website: www.MotesBooks.com. Special marketing strategies will also be utilized, including at least one public reading with selected contributors by invitation of the publisher.

* Submit by email.
* Send manuscript (Arial 12 pt., single-spaced) as a .doc file (Word document) to
MOTIF@MotesBooks.com. IMPORTANT: Use "MOTIF Anthology" as the subject line (email containing blank subject lines will automatically be deleted; other subject lines may inadvertently be tagged as spam).
* Include all author contact information (including phone, snail mail, and e-mail address) with each submission.
* Do not send previously published or simultaneously submitted material.
* Include a 50-60 word bio to appear in “contributor's notes” section of the anthology if work is accepted.
* Submission period closes August 5, 2008. Publication is slated for November 2008.

For clarification or questions, visit www.MotesBooks.com
or email MOTIF@MotesBooks.com.


"The secret to my success is that I bit off more than I could chew and chewed as fast as I could."

- Paul Hogan

A MATTER OF PERSPECTIVE

So I'm a few days from the deadline for my revision, and I'm to that point where my brain is so saturated I can hardly see straight.

Here's the thought I keep coming back to: Every thing we do, every single word we write matters. And if you've ever lived in Alabama or spent any time in the deep south, then you will especially appreciate today's quote.

"If you think you're too small to have an impact, try going to bed with a mosquito in the room."

- Anita Roddick

SHOWCASE SUNDAY

Things That Can Only Be Whispered

Like names of past lovers
when the lights are out,
when your arms and legs
are wound together in loose knots
and he says tell me.

Like memories of the dead,
especially the ones
that crash into your consciousness
like waves upon a rocky shore,
until even the air you breathe
tastes like salt.

Like accidental confessions
crawling past careless lips
or even intentional ones
coming in a dry rush
that want only to drift
like snow, to find the ground
and erase every detail
yet can’t and don’t.

Like the words
for all the ways
you’d like to love his body,
new words that haven’t
been thought of yet,
syllables you find behind his ear
and in the folds of his kiss
just before he turns to go.

- Irene Latham

"Change the name and it's about you, that story."

- Horace

MY FAVORITE WORD

So Eric, who's eight, says, "Mom,
what's your favorite word?"

I pause as a million words flash through my brain.
A million words I will not choose
because there's only one answer to this question.

"Love," I say.
"I knew you were going to say that," says he.


Wishing each and every one of you a love-filled day!

"At the touch of love everyone becomes a poet."

- Plato

THOUSAND WORD THURSDAY

Here's another great pic courtesy of Lynn the Great.

For some reason it's got me thinking about the word serendipity. I mean, what a great word! And really, isn't serendipity just about paying attention? How many serendipitous moments must we miss simply because we are too busy to notice? How many wonderful stories are hidden inside us just waiting for the pen?

Something to think about...

"Serendipity is looking in a haystack for a needle and discovering a farmer’s daughter."

- Julius Comroe Jr.

A NEW STORY TO TELL

This is what Andrew's arm looked like just after he fell at the skating rink and we knew it was broken but were waiting for the call-back from his doctor to decide which hospital to go to.

This is what Andrew's arm looks like now.

The great thing about it is now Andrew has a new story to tell. And he and I have something new in common: I also broke my arm as a child (twice) and now Andrew has to be left-handed (like me!) for a while.

The bonus for me is I get to go back in time and wash my baby boy's hair. :)

“There isn't any symbolism. The sea is the sea. The old man is an old man. The boy is a boy and the fish is a fish. The shark are all sharks no better and no worse. All the symbolism that people say is shit. What goes beyond is what you see beyond when you know.”

- Ernest Hemingway

THE LITTLE THINGS

It truly is the little things that make all the difference. Like this award from Alison. Thank you, my friend, for spreading the joy and making the world a better place.

Now to pay it forward: Paul and the kids made me feel so special on Mother's Day. I got an uninterrupted nap and spinach dip at our most favorite Mexican restaurant. And I got the treasures pictured below. Folks, it doesn't get much better than this.


Thanks, fellas, for making me feel very loved. Now, back to the trenches. Be back tomorrow to explain Andrew's #2 (the last list).

"When you love a man, he becomes more than a body. His physical limbs expand, and his outline recedes, vanishes. He is rich and sweet and right. He is part of the world, the atmosphere, the blue sky and the blue water."

- Gwendolyn Brooks

SHOWCASE SUNDAY

Black Dress
- for my mother

Where is the black dress
I watched you cut
from satin sheets?

Handmade with love
the label declared,
as they all did.

What did I know then of love?

I thought I needed
to rid myself of you
to become me

so I put your creations in bags,
left them at the curb
for a truck to carry away.

Now your joints swell,
your sewing machine stays covered,
and I have money for dresses.

But I want them back,
those dresses that were born
of your mind and fingers

the black dress
out of style now
but classic

the way black dresses are,
the way we learn about love
too late.

- Irene Latham

This poem can be found in the book POEMS FROM THE BIG TABLE, and it is one I wrote in response to a piece of art by Liz Reed. The poem is close to my heart especially today on the Mother's Day before my mother moves away from me for the very first time (up till now, we have always lived in the same city) and on the first Mother's Day we celebrate without my mother-in-law.

Big Happy Mother's Day to all my mom friends out there! You are amazing!!

"All women become like their mothers. That is their tragedy. No man does. That's his."

~Oscar Wilde, The Importance of Being Earnest, 1895

YIPPY! I'M A SEMI-FINALIST FOR AN IPPY!!

Woohooo! WHAT CAME BEFORE made the short list for the Independent Publisher awards!! I've been invited to the BookExpo in Los Angeles May 29 for the announcement of the awards. Here's the complete list (in random order) of semi-finalists in the "Poetry" division:

Rhythms, by Leo Shelton (Tugson Press)
Tahirih Unveiled, by Julia Older (Turning Point Press)
Little Rock, 2005, by Edwin E. Smith
Retreats & Recognitions, by Grace Bauer (Lost Horse Press)
What Came Before, by Irene Latham (Negative Capability Press)
The Origin of the Milky Way, by Barbara Louise Ungar (Gival Press)

Congrats to all my fellow finalists! And thanks to you independent publishers out there who value words more than money and put folks like us in print!!

HAPPY AS A LARK

(photo by Otto Pfister)

Remember when I was telling you I was just like the mad bluebird because there's this journal I've been wanting to get published in, like FOREVER, only Editor X hadn't yet found my poems worthy?

Well. This just in: Editor X accepted not one but TWO of my poems for publication! And also wrote me a lovely note praising my work and asking for an autographed copy of my book!

Just goes to show you the key to this writing gig is NEVER GIVE UP. Even when you get really really mad about something that happens along the way.

“Nothing in this world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful people with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent. The slogan 'press on' has solved and always will solve the problems of the human race.”

- Calvin Coolidge

THOUSAND WORD THURSDAY

How cool is this pic? (Thanks, LTG!)

A couple of years ago I stumbled upon a great program for artists (or anyone) called The Private Eye. It involves looking at the world very closely with a jeweler's loupe. Then you start an inquiry process that is based in analogy: What does it look like? What else? What else? What else?

I use The Private Eye program as much as possible when I do school visits. One second grade class I worked with this year created amazing poems -- wait till you read! I will be posting their creations on my website very soon.

This tree bark looks like sand dunes to me, like hair floating in water, like a fingerprint. I love the way it seems to swirl and move. Imagine what it must be like to be an ant crossing this terrain! There is something about the change of perspective that gives the brain a workout and has the potential to really enhance our writing efforts.

"Fill your paper with the breathings of your heart..."

- William Wordsworth