YOU CANNOT MEASURE COURAGE

Today I posted at Smack Dab in the Middle about my first published poem for children, which appears in the current issue of Scholastic's Scope magazine!

For details about that experience -- and a video about how I approached the assignment-- click here.

And here's the complete poem:
 

You Cannot Measure Courage

by Irene Latham

And you cannot

hold

one life

above another.

But what if you must?

How blind the blade  

that shreds

the rope,

how rapidly

fibers untwine,

gravity pulling

down,

down

its silence

both question

and answer.

How comfortless

those glittering medals

for the cutter

whose heart flails

like a hooked fish

forever

after.

ONE LITTLE WORD FOR 2012

Why fierce?

I don't know. I just love the word. And of all the words I considered, it was the only one that was sticky.

So. Will I be fighting this year? Will I be loving really really hard? Will I write with intensity? I'm sure 2012 will show me all the reasons this is my one little word.

I do know this: the word makes me think Japanese culture. And I am definitely in a CROUCHING TIGER, HIDDEN DRAGON kind of mood. Also, today I am shopping for old kimonos at the thrift store for a quilt project. We'll see what happens next!

What's your one little word for 2012?

P*TAG, POETRY TAG TIME & GIFT TAG

Santa Claus, sweet soul that he is, brought me just what I wanted for Christmas: a Kindle. (He brought lots of people Kindles...Kindle sales topped 4 million in December.)

Why did I ask for a Kindle? Well. In recent months I've noticed that there are books I want to read that are only available as e-books. Such as Janet Wong and Sylvia Vardell's poetry collections P*TAG, POETRY TAG TIME and GIFT TAG. I downloaded them right away, and by Christmas night, I had consumed them all, more than once.

There is so much to love about these collections. Gorgeous, inspiring photography (that Sylvia has got an eye!), and a wide range of voices and subjects. I loved Janet's explanatory poem about the "Tag" in the title... for more on tagging as an art form, check out the documentary EXIT THROUGH THE GIFT SHOP. Fascinating.

I connected with many of the poems in each volume. And I am so grateful to Janet and Sylvia for making great poetry so accessible. And to the participating poets -- especially all you Poetry Friday friends whose lovely work appears in these collections! --for sharing bits of their lives and worlds. (Each poem includes a bit of explanation from the poet, sort of the inside-scoop stuff you hear at poetry readings.) Such a fabulous way to spread the poetry-love. I'm completely inspired. And  there was one poem in particular that stole my heart:  "Cornered" by Steven Withrow (from P*TAG).

Don't know Steven? Change that. Right now. Visit his blog and request the pdf of his collection CRACKLES OF SPEECH. (Two of my faves: "A Few Discrepancies" and "Sea is Sound, Air is a Door Ajar") He's also the founder of Poetry Advocates for Children and Young Adults. If you haven't joined, please do.

And now for the poem, which Steven and Janet and Sylvia all graciously permitted me to reprint here:






Cornered
by Steven Withrow

I am a closing of ancient walls
No floor, no vaulted ceiling


You are a clasping of grooved stone hands
Intricate intaglios


We are the V in vanishing point
Anointed intersection


You are my shadowy catacomb
I am the crook of your thumb


You are a trap at the end of me
As I am a bend of you


You, most ornate corner of my heart
And I am saved, I am saved


Mmmm. Poetry. love it so much.

An aside: youngest son asked, "Why did you choose that one when there are so many other good ones?"

My answer: "We love what we love. No need to explain or understand it."

Happy New Year, everyone! For more on these e-books, visit the Poetry Tag Time website. Then visit Julie at the Drift Record for Round up.