Word of South Festival (Tallahassee, FL)

Irene Latham, Jan Annino, Laura Freeman

Last month it was my honor to be invited as a featured artist at Tallahassee's Word of South literary and music festival held at Cascades Park.

What a beautiful venue! And what a well-run event! I wouldn't have been there if not for dear poet-friend Jan Annino's recommendation to the committee... thank you, Jan! It was so lovely to see you. :)

Cascades Park (Tallahassee, FL)

The weather was perfect, and I wish I could have spent more time enjoying the city -- both my parents graduated from FSU -- in fact, it's where they met. (In a home economics class where the instructor asked a show of hands for people wanting big families... by the time the instructor got to "8 or more kids" my parents-to-be were the only students still holding their hands up. They went on to have five of us!)

The only hiccup of my trip was some car trouble, which turned out to be low oil. While I was trying to find a car shop, I noticed the I Museum of Florida History near by. I'd really like to check out at some point... next time!

me and my littlest sis!

The trip was especially lovely because it gave me an excuse to visit with my mother and her family. Because my adopted siblings are all school age, I made sure include in my plans a visit to their classrooms at Aucilla Christian Academy. I shared poems by me and others in celebration of National Poetry Month. Fun!

Mama's hair was wild!
(Laura gave out all kinds
of fun hair clips to readers.)

At the festival I was paired with Laura Freeman, author-illustrator of NATALIE'S HAIR WAS WILD. It's an adorable picture book, and Laura was simply lovely to work with! After our presentation we signed a bunch of books that were purchased by the Early Learning Coalition and gifted to attendees. That's right: kids got free books! Pretty awesome, right? I signed copies of FRESH DELICIOUS and CAN I TOUCH YOUR HAIR? The day was made even better because my mom and her family were in the audience. That doesn't happen all that often, so it was lovely to share the day with them.

I Love Mississippi.

Dav Pilkey said it was
a bookmark contest that
first made him think he
could be a successful
illustrator.

Now that it's May and I can breathe again, I'm backtracking to share some of the fabulous April happenings.

First up, Fay B. Kaigler Children's Book Festival at University of Southern Mississippi in Hattiesburg, MS.

I adore this festival! Karen Rowell and Ellen Ruffin and the whole team outdo themselves every single year.

This year it featured Dav Pilkey receiving the Medallion, which was so much fun! Librarians were running all around campus in their superhero capes. :) I particularly enjoyed learning about Dav's challenges as a student. I was also wow-ed by

me and Salina Yoon

Salina Yoon, with whom I happily snapped this selfie in the hallway before her amazing talk. :)

Salina shared about being a "recovering introvert" which had us all laughing. Then she shared how she was a quiet child, much like the Dennis character (who is a mime) in BE A FRIEND.

Salina put on her mime hat and gloves to read the story for us! Magic, I say. Salina also shared her spreadsheets on submissions and acceptances, and wow, was that inspiring! One reason Salina

Storyteller Award winner
Alabamian Wanda Johnson
telling us her 6 favorite words:
"Let me tell you a story."

has so many books is because she has an amazing work ethic. And how creative are her book projects?! She cites toys as a big inspiration for her work. I loved when she shared about how writing picture books was kind of a way to reinvent herself, after a year with the novelty books weren't selling. What a lucky development for children and readers everywhere!

Another thing I loved was hearing old friend and fellow Alabamian (and USM alum!) Ash Parson talk about tropes and archetypes. Love that lady! And it was so much fun to meet and present with new friend Leah Henderson, author of the middle grade novel ONE SHADOW ON THE WALL which happens to be the only current novel set in Senegal.

me and Leah Henderson

Leah and I have so much in common! We shared with attendees our experiences about writing across culture and gave tips on how to proceed, should one feel called to write a story not from one's experiences. It's not for the faint of heart! However... the most important thing any of can do is follow our hearts as we write. For some of us that may mean proceeding into dangerous territory. It helps to meet fellow travelers, I can tell you that!

One of the highlights for me was sharing a table with a bunch of Mississippi librarians who live and work outside Memphis, TN. These ladies were THE BEST! I'm so grateful. I hope to meet up with them again when I travel with a dear friend for a research trip to Graceland later this year.

So much goodness! I'm excited to be traveling again to Mississippi with Charles Waters in August to share CAN I TOUCH YOUR HAIR? at Mississippi Book Festival (Jackson, MS).

Hooray for us! And for Mississippi!

Celebrating IMPERFECT with Tabatha Yeatts

Hello and Happy Poetry Friday! HOORAY IT'S MAY! Be sure to visit Linda at Write Time for Roundup.

I am away from my desk, but I wanted to pop in a share a bit about IMPERFECT: Poems about Mistakes: an Anthology for Middle Schoolers, edited by Tabatha Yeatts.

I love the theme of this anthology, and it makes me so happy to see so many Poetry Friday friends' poems included! Could there be a better opener than Ruth's "Syllabus for Eighth Grade"?? I am honored that two poems I wrote for Scholastic were selected for inclusion: "Titanic Remember April 16, 1912" and "Anaconda Surprise." Nice to see these reach a new readership! More importantly, the book contains all kinds of wonderful poems about making mistakes... and in a world where images are photoshopped and Instagram and Twitter are filled with all the seemingly-perfect moments of life (yet none of the rest), it can feel awfully lonely to be walking around in your human skin... we NEED these reminders that we aren't perfect, that no one is, and that's what makes us beautiful.

Tabatha Yeatts

Speaking of beautiful, Tabatha happens to be one of my favorite people in the universe. I'm so grateful the universe brought us together! And so it is with great pleasure that I welcome Tab to Live Your Poem to answer a few questions about this new beautiful anthology.

Welcome, Tabatha!

The delicious:
There's been a lot of delicious along the way...from the excitement and enthusiasm of the IMPERFECT poets who really believed in this project from day one to the way that Vivien and I "clicked" with our ideas for the visuals. My family and the IMPERFECT Selection Committee were incredibly helpful. I think that giving so much thought to how to help young people deal with their mistakes has been a growing experience for me too. I feel like our acceptance of ourselves as fallible creatures leads to generosity, both for ourselves and others. Once we really forgive ourselves for our mistakes, can opening your heart to others be far behind?

The difficult:
The unexpected:
The difficult and unexpected have a bit of overlap because I was generally surprised by how difficult some aspects were! For instance, I expected selecting poems to be hard, but I didn't think about the layout. The person doing the formatting was in a very different time zone and there was a lot of back-and-forth to get it right.

wee reader Tab!

Anything else:

As a child, I did NOT want to make mistakes. I wanted to do everything right the first time.

I think being a writer helped me so much with accepting making mistakes. When you write, you really have to understand that your first draft is just that -- a draft. You expect that it's not going to be perfect and you will have to fix it up. It's the same for people who are writing music or putting on plays. You rehearse -- you don't just go out and perform without working out the kinks. You expect to start out making mistakes and working through them. It's the same with scientists and inventors. You try something, then you see where you need to change it, and try again.

Once you have accepted that, it's easier to accept fallibility in other ways.

Last bit: 

The Team Imperfect blog has "all things imperfect" on it -- please check it out! 

Rituals for the Non-Religious

paper butterflies

For Spiritual Journey Thursday we are gathering at Violet Nesdoly's blog to talk about how we celebrate special days.

I really love this topic because it has been an important consideration during our long years of parenting without being church-goers.

A regular religious practice has so much built-in ritual (as I recall from my Episcopal upbringing), so when a family chooses not to participate in a church community, the responsibility for creating ritual falls to the parents.

Christmas tree quilt

It was so important to me to provide rituals for our children! These included daily rituals like reading together and family dinner, and holiday rituals like fishing on Easter and going to the Christmas tree farm to cut a tree and waking the birthday boy on his birthday by singing the birthday song and holding a lit candle stuck in his favorite breakfast snack. My heart always swells when any of our boys recall with fondness any of these special things.

These days, as the empty nest looms, Paul and I are more focused on  the rituals that are just ours. We've had a weekly date night for the past 28 years. These days we eat lunch together almost every day. We walk our country road. We have a Saturday lunch spot and a Sunday afternoon nap-date. These feed me, and our relationship.

sky/trees reflected in the lake

And of course I have my personal daily rituals as well -- I have reading/devotionals each morning. Meditation. I drink my veggie juice. A couple of hours writing. Cello. Cooking. Reading. All of these are essential parts of my spiritual life. These things help me feel connected to the world,  and to a higher power. They help keep me actively present in my life, moment by moment, living my poem.

BEHOLD: Bald Eagles

photo courtesy of National Geographic

Spring has arrived in central Alabama! For the past two weeks we have been enjoying our supper outdoors, on a deck overlooking the lake.

The water, the spring air, the green-green trees are all so very peaceful! And in the sky above the lake, eagles. Bald eagles! Bald eagles courting. So the birds were whistling, diving, circling... beautiful!

 SO beautiful and miraculous that it made my throat get tight with gratitude. And this thought: this beauty has been here all along. While we were raising kids in the suburbs, no eagles in sight, the eagles were here. I don't know, but that thought just got me. Why did it take us so long?! But that's not the thing to dwell on, is it?

Easter 2018
(before everything turned green)

The eagles were there last night for supper, too. I think they may be our nearest neighbors. :) We are so grateful to now be able to walk out our back door and witness such magnificence.

We've also got a Bird Show at the feeders outside our bedroom window each morning! I had to get out the bird field guide to help us identify them all. :) I am loving it. Very fitting for this 2018, Year of the Bird -- and for my 2018 One Little Word BEHOLD.

ARTSPEAK! Harlem Renaissance poem "The Last Poem"

Welcome to day #30 of 2018 ARTSPEAK!, in which I am focusing on art and artists from the Harlem Renaissance. I cannot believe this is the final poem of the series... whew!

Before we get to today's poem, please be sure and visit Doraine at Dori Reads to read the final line of our Progressive Poem! Our little seed has sure come a long way.

Today I'm concluding my Harlem Renaissance poetry project with a look at photographer James Van Der Zee. James started fooling around with a camera at age fourteen, and he went on to become the most famous portrait photographer in Harlem. He was known for his portraits of African American New Yorkers -- both prominent people and "regular" people. Read more about James here.

Here are the poems in the series so far:

"Hazel Scott at the Piano" by James Van Der Zee
"She" after Portrait with Flowers by William Johnson
"Poems Come Lately" after Still Life with Flowers and Chair by William Johnson
"Papa with a Pipe" after Self-Portrait with Pipe by William Johnson
"A Song for Old Glory" after Lift Thy Voice and Sing by William Johnson
"Midnight Party" after Harbor Under the Midnight Sun by William Johnson
"Summersong" after Children at the Ice Cream Stand by William Johnson
"Trio" after Art Class by William Johnson

"To a Water Boy" after The Water Boy by Meta Warrick Fuller
"Storytime" after Storytime by Meta Warrick Fuller
"Sorrow" after Sorrow by Meta Warrick Fuller

"My John Henry" after When John Henry Was a Baby by Palmer Hayden

"Night Music" after Untitled by Palmer Hayden

"A (Sub)way of Looking" after The Subway, 1930 by Palmer Hayden

"Girl to Mama" after Madonna at the Stoop by Palmer Hayden

"For Love of the Game" after Checkers Game by Palmer Hayden

"The Birthday Birds of Bonaventure Island" after Birds of Isle de Bonaventure by Palmer Hayden

"Boat Dock, Early Evening" after Boats at the Dock by Palmer Hayden

"Prayer for the Berry Pickers" after Berry Pickers by Palmer Hayden

"Sometimes Books Are the Only Playground I Need" after Among Them is a Girl Reading by Palmer Hayden

"Measurements" after Octoroon Girl by Archibald Motley

"Barbeque" after Barbecue by Archibald Motley

"American Idyll, 1934" after An Idyll of the Deep South by Aaron Douglas

"The Toiler" after The Toiler by Aaron Douglas

"Let There Be Poetry" after The Creation by Aaron Douglas

"Boy with Plane" after Boy with Plane by Aaron Douglas

"To a Dancer" after Sahdji (Tribal Women) by Aaron Douglas

"For the Builders" after Building More Stately Mansions by Aaron Douglas

"This Poem is a Dream" after Aspiration by Aaron Douglas

Today's piece is Dancing Girls. I love the expressions on these girls faces -- so different from one another! I started out writing a variation of "Five Little Monkeys" but it just wasn't popping. Then I started thinking about how several of this year's poems have been ars poetica (about poetry), and I realized this was the last poem, and started thinking about how the dancers might represent the last poem, and voila!

The Last Poem

is all knees

and flat feet

it keeps forgetting

the routine

yet it wears a hat:

see me!

it lifts its arms:

love me!

it closes its eyes,

looks past lens,

             mirror

                  stage

dances us

across the page

- Irene Latham

ARTSPEAK! Harlem Renaissance Poem "Hazel Scott at the Piano"

Welcome to day #29 of 2018 ARTSPEAK!, in which I am focusing on art and artists from the Harlem Renaissance. 

Before we get to today's poem, please be sure and visit April at Teaching Authors to see how our Progressive Poem is progressing!

Today I'm continuing my Harlem Renaissance poetry project with a look at photographer James Van Der Zee. (One more day to go! Woohoo!) James started fooling around with a camera at age fourteen, and he went on to become the most famous portrait photographer in Harlem. He was known for his portraits of African American New Yorkers -- both prominent people and "regular" people. Read more about James here.

Here are the poems in the series so far:

"She" after Portrait with Flowers by William Johnson
"Poems Come Lately" after Still Life with Flowers and Chair by William Johnson
"Papa with a Pipe" after Self-Portrait with Pipe by William Johnson
"A Song for Old Glory" after Lift Thy Voice and Sing by William Johnson
"Midnight Party" after Harbor Under the Midnight Sun by William Johnson
"Summersong" after Children at the Ice Cream Stand by William Johnson
"Trio" after Art Class by William Johnson

"To a Water Boy" after The Water Boy by Meta Warrick Fuller
"Storytime" after Storytime by Meta Warrick Fuller
"Sorrow" after Sorrow by Meta Warrick Fuller

"My John Henry" after When John Henry Was a Baby by Palmer Hayden

"Night Music" after Untitled by Palmer Hayden

"A (Sub)way of Looking" after The Subway, 1930 by Palmer Hayden

"Girl to Mama" after Madonna at the Stoop by Palmer Hayden

"For Love of the Game" after Checkers Game by Palmer Hayden

"The Birthday Birds of Bonaventure Island" after Birds of Isle de Bonaventure by Palmer Hayden

"Boat Dock, Early Evening" after Boats at the Dock by Palmer Hayden

"Prayer for the Berry Pickers" after Berry Pickers by Palmer Hayden

"Sometimes Books Are the Only Playground I Need" after Among Them is a Girl Reading by Palmer Hayden

"Measurements" after Octoroon Girl by Archibald Motley

"Barbeque" after Barbecue by Archibald Motley

"American Idyll, 1934" after An Idyll of the Deep South by Aaron Douglas

"The Toiler" after The Toiler by Aaron Douglas

"Let There Be Poetry" after The Creation by Aaron Douglas

"Boy with Plane" after Boy with Plane by Aaron Douglas

"To a Dancer" after Sahdji (Tribal Women) by Aaron Douglas

"For the Builders" after Building More Stately Mansions by Aaron Douglas

"This Poem is a Dream" after Aspiration by Aaron Douglas

Today's piece is a portrait of jazz pianist Hazel Scott. Isn't she beautiful? Somehow I ended up with a poem that has a title with the same amount of words as the body of the poem. :)

Hazel Scott at the Piano

her smile

a concerto

of silence

- Irene Latham

ARTSPEAK! Harlem Renaissance poem "She"

Welcome to day #28 of 2018 ARTSPEAK!, in which I am focusing on art and artists from the Harlem Renaissance. 

Before we get to today's poem, please be sure and visit Kat at Kat's Whiskers to see how our Progressive Poem is progressing!

Today I'm continuing my Harlem Renaissance poetry project with a last look at painter William Johnson! Here is a quote I found in the book HARLEM STOMP by Laban Carrick Hill:

“My aim is to express in a natural way

what I feel both rhythmically and spiritually,

al that has been saved up in my family

of primitiveness and tradition. – William H. Johnson

Also from HARLEM STOMP:

“his work contained the Expressionist quality of broad, emotional paint strokes and bright colors that was very much informed by his exposure yo European Modernism. Many African American critics, however, were put off by his work because he seemed to them to be reinforcing cultural stereotypes of the ignorant, unskilled Negro rather than the cultured 'New Negro' they were so committed to promoting.”

Turns out that Johnson's earliest works were mostly landscapes. After traveling to Europe, Scandinavia, and North Africa during the 1930s, Johnson came back to the States with a Danish wife and a new commitment to featuring African American subjects in a simpler, folk art style. We'll stick with Johnson for the rest of the week!

Here are the poems in the series so far:

"Poems Come Lately" after Still Life with Flowers and Chair by William Johnson
"Papa with a Pipe" after Self-Portrait with Pipe by William Johnson
"A Song for Old Glory" after Lift Thy Voice and Sing by William Johnson
"Midnight Party" after Harbor Under the Midnight Sun by William Johnson
"Summersong" after Children at the Ice Cream Stand by William Johnson
"Trio" after Art Class by William Johnson

"To a Water Boy" after The Water Boy by Meta Warrick Fuller
"Storytime" after Storytime by Meta Warrick Fuller
"Sorrow" after Sorrow by Meta Warrick Fuller

"My John Henry" after When John Henry Was a Baby by Palmer Hayden

"Night Music" after Untitled by Palmer Hayden

"A (Sub)way of Looking" after The Subway, 1930 by Palmer Hayden

"Girl to Mama" after Madonna at the Stoop by Palmer Hayden

"For Love of the Game" after Checkers Game by Palmer Hayden

"The Birthday Birds of Bonaventure Island" after Birds of Isle de Bonaventure by Palmer Hayden

"Boat Dock, Early Evening" after Boats at the Dock by Palmer Hayden

"Prayer for the Berry Pickers" after Berry Pickers by Palmer Hayden

"Sometimes Books Are the Only Playground I Need" after Among Them is a Girl Reading by Palmer Hayden

"Measurements" after Octoroon Girl by Archibald Motley

"Barbeque" after Barbecue by Archibald Motley

"American Idyll, 1934" after An Idyll of the Deep South by Aaron Douglas

"The Toiler" after The Toiler by Aaron Douglas

"Let There Be Poetry" after The Creation by Aaron Douglas

"Boy with Plane" after Boy with Plane by Aaron Douglas

"To a Dancer" after Sahdji (Tribal Women) by Aaron Douglas

"For the Builders" after Building More Stately Mansions by Aaron Douglas

"This Poem is a Dream" after Aspiration by Aaron Douglas

Today's piece is called Portrait with Flowers. I was instantly drawn to the steely look in this woman's eye and wanted to say something about her. In some way she reminds me of my Grandma Oslund, who was one sharp cookie (a chemist/teacher/librarian/needle craftswoman). One might underestimate her... until you looked her in the eye. Then you knew she was something special. All that sharpness also came out of her mouth-- I have some not-so-nice memories of ways she hurt me with her words -- but these days I am more and more aware of how strong she was, and how grateful I am to have known her, and how we have this mad creativity in common... I do hope I am never as sharp-tongued as, but I also hope to be as creatively productive and active all of my days, as she was. What an inspiration!

-->

She

She keeps her feet

on the floor,

her hair slick,

hands proper –

yet her mind won't

be held by chair

table

walls.

Her heart spills

sunflowers

her lungs grow

a field of poppies.

Can't you see?

Her eyes

are caves

of diamonds.

- Irene Latham

Poetry Friday Roundup with ARTSPEAK! Harlem Renaissance "Poems Come Lately"

Hello, and Happy Poetry Friday! Roundup is here at Live Your Poem... please add your link below!

So, here we are, gathering for this last Poetry Friday of National Poetry Month... how's everyone feeling? It's been a crazy month for me with so much travel related to CAN I TOUCH YOUR HAIR?, but all good stuff, and I am proud to say I've managed to keep my poem-a-day commitment this month for ARTSPEAK!

me last week at the Langston
Hughes house in Harlem :)

Harlem Renaissance, in which I am focusing on art an artists from the Harlem Renaissance!

Of course I've had to let other things slide in order to make that happen, but isn't that the way life is? Even though I haven't been able to enjoy all the offerings this month, I have certainly reveled in the swell of enthusiasm and creativity in our community! So inspiring!! Below you will find poem #27.

Before we get to today's poem, please be sure and visit Buffy's Blog to see how our Progressive Poem is progressing! Our little Jas has certainly been adventuring this year, hasn't she? So many thanks to all this year's participants! 

Today I'm continuing my Harlem Renaissance poetry project with more from painter William Johnson. We'll be with him again tomorrow, and then I'll round out the month with photographer James Van Der Zee. That will make 6 Harlem Renaissance artists I've studied this month. I've learned a lot! Thank you, readers, for your comments and encouragement along the way. It helps so much.

Before I get to today's poem, I thought I would answer a few questions I've gotten:

How long each day to you spend writing the ARTSPEAK! poem?

I allow myself one hour to write, and one hour to get my post ready. But I do look at the next day's art as soon as I'm finished with that day's poem, so my mind can be brewing on how to address it. Mostly this has worked out well, though I did hit a wall a couple of times this month... those poems end up being the shortest!

How do you select the poems each day?

Before the month begins I populate a file with 32 images. When I am thinking about what to include, I really just go on gut reaction -- does it appeal to me? does it have a story? is it interesting/relevant to a young audience? Then I just grab them randomly, while I am in the online rabbit hole. 

When April arrives, I start with the first image and move through my file in order of acquisition. I also add two extra images, in case an image isn't speaking to me... this year I've used up one of my "extras." This year was a little different in that I decided to tackle
 each artist as a sort of sub-unit (posting each artist's work on consecutive days), so I searched the file with that artist's name and wrote on them in order of appearance.

Are you planning for these poems to be a book?

A dream of mine is to have a collection of art poems! However, this is a tough sell in today's market. I think the theme of the book would need to be really special... not sure I've happened upon that yet -- and may never! So I've let that go for now and am focused on doing something I love, which is writing poems inspired by art. (Meanwhile I do have an art poem in WORLD MAKE WAY, edited by Lee Bennett Hopkins.)  

Were you worried about writing across culture with these Harlem Renaissance poems?
Yes, and no. Not worried, exactly, but certainly mindful! When I conceived the project, I decided I would write on the themes of freedom, creativity, dreams, reawakening -- and those are universal things. As our all our human emotions. And there's so much freedom in writing art poems -- they aren't ABOUT the art, they are in response to the art. So it's a conversation.

However, I did make a word change in my "To a Dancer" poem in consideration of culture. My post sparked some conversation in a college classroom of all African-American students here in Alabama... they were concerned that I was writing with "one hand tied behind my back." TOO MUCH consideration for the reader... and that got us talking about how much the audience comes into writing. Interesting!

Which is your favorite poem so far this month?

Favorites are hard! There is one that hasn't been read by many that features a sculpture by Meta Warrick Fuller that I keep thinking about... here it is:

Now back to William Johnson! Here is a quote from William Johnson found in the book HARLEM STOMP by Laban Carrick Hill:

“My aim is to express in a natural way

what I feel both rhythmically and spiritually,

al that has been saved up in my family

of primitiveness and tradition. – William H. Johnson

Also from HARLEM STOMP:

“his work contained the Expressionist quality of broad, emotional paint strokes and bright colors that was very much informed by his exposure yo European Modernism. Many African American critics, however, were put off by his work because he seemed to them to be reinforcing cultural stereotypes of the ignorant, unskilled Negro rather than the cultured 'New Negro' they were so committed to promoting.”

Turns out that Johnson's earliest works were mostly landscapes. After traveling to Europe, Scandinavia, and North Africa during the 1930s, Johnson came back to the States with a Danish wife and a new commitment to featuring African American subjects in a simpler, folk art style. We'll stick with Johnson for the rest of the week!

Here are the poems in the series so far:

"Papa with a Pipe" after Self-Portrait with Pipe by William Johnson
"A Song for Old Glory" after Lift Thy Voice and Sing by William Johnson

"Midnight Party" after Harbor Under the Midnight Sun by William Johnson

"Summersong" after Children at the Ice Cream Stand by William Johnson

"Trio" after Art Class by William Johnson

"To a Water Boy" after The Water Boy by Meta Warrick Fuller

"Storytime" after Storytime by Meta Warrick Fuller

"Sorrow" after Sorrow by Meta Warrick Fuller

"My John Henry" after When John Henry Was a Baby by Palmer Hayden

"Night Music" after Untitled by Palmer Hayden

"A (Sub)way of Looking" after The Subway, 1930 by Palmer Hayden

"Girl to Mama" after Madonna at the Stoop by Palmer Hayden

"For Love of the Game" after Checkers Game by Palmer Hayden

"The Birthday Birds of Bonaventure Island" after Birds of Isle de Bonaventure by Palmer Hayden

"Boat Dock, Early Evening" after Boats at the Dock by Palmer Hayden

"Prayer for the Berry Pickers" after Berry Pickers by Palmer Hayden

"Sometimes Books Are the Only Playground I Need" after Among Them is a Girl Reading by Palmer Hayden

"Measurements" after Octoroon Girl by Archibald Motley

"Barbeque" after Barbecue by Archibald Motley

"American Idyll, 1934" after An Idyll of the Deep South by Aaron Douglas

"The Toiler" after The Toiler by Aaron Douglas

"Let There Be Poetry" after The Creation by Aaron Douglas

"Boy with Plane" after Boy with Plane by Aaron Douglas

"To a Dancer" after Sahdji (Tribal Women) by Aaron Douglas

"For the Builders" after Building More Stately Mansions by Aaron Douglas

"This Poem is a Dream" after Aspiration by Aaron Douglas

Today's piece is called Still Life with Chair and Flowers. I didn't know what to do with this piece! And then I had some Skype visits where I was sharing poems about imaginations and how poets play with words, and voila, I started to play! I began with a nod to a favorite poem called "From Blossoms" by Li-Young Lee, and then spun forward from there, into regret and longing. Who knew?

Poems Come Lately

from three bright blossoms

(and one already fallen)

come poems

about a (purple) chair

     death

(how long does it take to wilt?)

bees (buzz buzzing)

and the way we can share

the same small space

and still feel alone

     alone

waiting (waiting)

for fingers, (nose?) song (!)

from blossoms

come poems poems

about the fragrance of roses

we wish we had sent

                            but didn't

- Irene Latham