Live Your Poem...

Afternoon Tea in August poem

noreply@blogger.com (Irene Latham) — Fri, 14 Aug 2026 10:30:00 +0000

Hello and Happy Poetry Friday! Be sure to visit Molly at Nix the Comfort Zone for Roundup.

The fabulous Joyce Uglow recently interviewed me about all things poetry, including my new collection Come In! Come In! Wordspinners to Welcome You Home. Here's a link, if you'd like to check it out!

Also, it was so great seeing some of your sweet faces at The Poet's Studio with Georgia Heard earlier this week! So much fun learning together!!

Today's ArtSpeak: WOMEN features an oft-forgotten woman impressionist: Marie Bracquemond.

You know how poems often take on a life of their own? I didn't intend to write a poem about a grumpy girl, but that's what the poem wanted. And not just a grumpy girl—a girl who regrets her grumpiness. Perhaps it's a wee bit autobiographical, as heat indeed makes me prickly!! And when I snap at a loved one (or a stranger), I always want to make amends. Thanks for reading!

Afternoon Tea in August

Buzz away, little bee.

Can't you see

I'm reading?

Oh sun, please leave!

You're making me

so sleepy . . .

Come back, little bee!

I'm sorry! I need

your buzzy company.

Sun, forgive me.

Won't you let me

read you a story?

- Irene Latham

Once Upon a Smelly Pup poem

noreply@blogger.com (Irene Latham) — Fri, 07 Aug 2026 10:30:00 +0000

Hello and Happy Poetry Friday! Be sure to visit Ruth at Thereisnosuchthingasagodforsakentown for Roundup.

Just a reminder: I'm excited to be joining Georgia Heard at The Poet's Studio to talk about the secrets of our craft...specifically word-magic in poetry on August 12, via zoom! Please join us, if you can!

Today's ArtSpeak: WOMEN has me returning to Berthe Morisot. This time it's a dog poem. Hooray!

We feel incredibly lucky to share our days and nights with our 8 year old Aussie Rosie. She is such a great traveler! And this week she got to meet a horse for the first time. So much fun!! No wonder I chose to write about dog-love.

But y'all, it's hard to write a dog poem because what can I say that hasn't already been said?!

I tried at least a dozen entry points and REALLY struggled. I think remembering Phoebe's "smelly cat" from Friends got me to the smelly bit! (Rosie, as a 95% indoor dog, rarely smells...and has no opportunity to find smelly treasures, though I bet she'd like to!) I do love the little bit of word-magic that entered the poem, and so I pulled back and pulled back until I had very few words left at all! Thanks so much for reading.

Once Upon a Smelly Pup

All it took

was one

little

wag-whine-wiggle

for that smelly

pup

to trash-land

right

heart.

- Irene Latham

Hide and Seek poem

noreply@blogger.com (Irene Latham) — Fri, 31 Jul 2026 10:59:46 +0000

Hello and Happy Poetry Friday! Be sure to visit Tabatha at The Opposite of Indifference for Roundup.

I am traveling...again! This time to parts of Missouri, Nebraska, and South Dakota. I love summer. :)

Irene Latham & Dahlia Hamza
Constantine

Here's a pic of Dahlia Hamza Constantine and me from last week at the Staunton (Virginia) Public Library. Among many joys, we saw a production of "Our Town" at the American Shakespeare Center/Blackfriars Playhouse (which is the only U.S. replica of the Globe!). Y'all. AMAZING. And oh boy, it fired me up! I have written SO MUCH this week... positively bubbling over with ideas and inspiration. I love it.

Today's ArtSpeak: WOMEN features a piece by Berthe Morisot, one of the female Impressionists. Much has been written about Morisot and Manet, and I have this book on my TBR stack.

Some notes: I wanted the poem to be in the child's voice. I wanted to be in conversation with the name of the piece, which is "Hide and Seek (Cache-Cache)." I wanted the poem to feel magical, to convey a sense of connection with nature. I wanted to mention the umbrella, which may be for sun or rain, I'm not sure! I'm pleased that my poem was able to accomplish some of these things—though I couldn't fit "umbrella" or "parasol" into the poem, I did get "raindrop!" And now I totally want to write more poems after Morisot's pieces! Thanks so much for reading.

Hide and Seek

I see ants
I see bees
Is that the sun
hiding
behind spring's breeze?

I see flowers
I see grass
and tiny raindrop
glistening
like shattered glass.

I see the world
World can't see me
Did you know
the sky sings
when you hold hands
with a tree?

Just Another (Sun)flower Poem

noreply@blogger.com (Irene Latham) — Fri, 24 Jul 2026 10:30:00 +0000

Hello and Happy Poetry Friday! Be sure to visit Tanita Davis at fiction, instead of lies for Roundup.

I will be on the road today, but I did want to leave a new ArtSpeak: WOMEN poem. This week I've returned to Hilma af Klint. Did you know she did a series of nature studies? MoMA mounted an exhibition of them last year, and I love all the connections Hilma was making! I reallyreallyreally want to acquire this book that accompanied the show. Hilma wrote in her notebook that sunflowers convey "love is the greatest of all." Her certainty led me to write a (love) poem full of questions. Thanks so much for reading!

Just Another (Sun)flower Poem

What (dark) language do seeds speak?

How do they know to reach for sun?
(Is the sun singing?)

When rain comes, can a plant
anticipate its drip-drop-drizzle,
or is it always a surprise? (Surprise!)

Which part is the plant most proud of,
its roots or its bloom?
(Don't tell me.)

And what about (green, glistening) leaves,
do they know that blooms exist only
because of leaves' devotion to collecting light?

Who was the first person (Not me!)
to stumble upon yellow petals in a field
and smile?

How is it that every time I meet
a sunflower
I (smiling) think of you?

- Irene Latham

p.s. A big fat smiling happy birthday to my (daffodil) sister LTG!!!

a blessing for sorrow

noreply@blogger.com (Irene Latham) — Fri, 17 Jul 2026 10:30:00 +0000

Hello and Happy Poetry Friday! Be sure to visit Jill Dailey for Roundup.

Wow, July is clipping along, isn't it? Charles and I had a great time in Chicago teaching at the Poetry Summit put on by the Poetry Foundation. What a great group of educators! And, fun bonus, we got to explore the Poetry Foundation offices and library! We also got to share a meal with children's poet and picture book author Michelle Schaub. Delightful! I came away with a BUNCH of new ideas and inspirations in my notebook...can't wait to write some new stuff. Many thanks to Sarah DeVore, Justine Haka, and Angelica Flores for all their hard work making our time together the best it could be. Oh, and if you're ever in Chicago, go to Zarella's and ask to be seated in the SpeakEasy section. Order the fried zucchini. You will not be sorry!

And now my thoughts have turned to the next trip, to Staunton, VA, where Dahlia H. Constantine and I will give an author's tea at Staunton Public Library in celebration of our book A Good Morning for Giddo. Hooray!

In "this is why we do it" news, I received the following email from a reader:

This makes me so happy!

Maybe that's why I started out this week's ArtSpeak:WOMEN poem as a love poem. I was thinking about a favorite African proverb and thought I'd write something about love as an early spring afternoon (because that's what the art looks like to me). But it just wasn't working!

And then I thought: maybe this poem isn't about love after all. The next emotion to settle in my mind was "sorrow." And then the poem felt just right. Thanks so much for reading.

May your sorrow be

like a spring afternoon

rising on a brisk wind

but nestling into the folds

of a hillside warm

with grass and birdsong.

- Irene Latham

dragon cloud haiku

noreply@blogger.com (Irene Latham) — Fri, 10 Jul 2026 10:30:00 +0000

Hello and Happy Poetry Friday! Be sure to visit Jan at bookseedstudio for Roundup.

In just a few days, I'll be traveling to Chicago to teach with Charles Waters at the Poetry Summit hosted by the Poetry Foundation. I'm excited to meet passionate-for-poetry educators from across the country! Charles and I will be talking about "poem as truth teller" and also leading a workshop on "poetry for a better world." Fun!!

For ArtSpeak: WOMEN I've got another piece by Gabriele Münter.

I've been reading Iron Flame by Rebecca Yarros, so perhaps that explains the appearance of dragons! And there are more dragons in my future, as I scored a complete and in very good condition boxed set of The Last Dragon Chronicles by Chris D'Lacey.

Once, many Julys ago, I wrote an early middle grade book called St. Cecelia's School for Dragons. I was so excited about it! And then How to Train Your Dragon by Cressida Cowell came out. And it became a whole franchise! So my little dragon book went into a cave.

But you know what? Those dragons have been popping out lately, asking to play...so who knows? Maybe I'll publish a dragon book yet! Meanwhile, here's a poem. Thanks so much for reading!

Who invited clouds

to storm our July picnic?

They look like dragons.

-Irene Latham

Trinet after an Argument

noreply@blogger.com (Irene Latham) — Fri, 03 Jul 2026 10:30:00 +0000

Irene Latham & Darnell Whited

Hello and Happy Poetry Friday! Be sure to visit Michelle at Moreart4all for Roundup.

Have you been enjoying all the America 250 events in your neck of the woods? I have! After months of planning...and a generous grant from the Alabama 250 commission, yesterday I helped host a community "Party Like It's 1776!"

My DAR Warrior Rivers chapter, in conjunction with the Blount County Memorial Museum, offered entry into two of our town's most historic buildings and filled them with historic exhibits, recognition of veterans, activities (including a scavenger hunt!), food, and visits from historical figures like George and Martha Washington! So much fun, y'all. And I wanted to share a list of the books we found most valuable for helping us celebrate America's birthday, particularly in their portrayal of the American Revolution:

Cloaked in Courage: Uncovering Deborah Sampson, Patriot Soldier by Beth Anderson, illus. by Anne Lambelet

DK Eyewitness American Revolution

Farmer George Plants a Nation by Peggy Thomas, illus. by Layne Johnson

George vs. George: The American Revolution as seen from Both Sides by Rosalyn Schanzer

George Washington and the General's Dog by Frank Murphy, illus. by Richard Walz

George Washington's Spectacular Spectacles: The Glasses That Saved America by Selene Castrovilla, illus. by Jenn Harney

Heroes of 1776: The Story of the Declaration of Independence by Neil Gorsuch and Janie Nitze, illus. by Chris Ellison

History Smashers: The American Revolution by Kate Messner

If You Were a Kid During the American Revolution by Wil Mara, illus. by Kelly Kennedy

Nathan Hale: Patriot Spy by Shannon Zemlicka, illus. by Craig Orback

Spies in the American Revolution for Kids: A History Book by Carla Killough McClafferty

The American Revolution from A to Z by Laura Crawford, illus. by Judith Hierstein

When Paul Revere Rode: Voices from the First Night of the American Revolution by Sarah L. Thomson, illus. by Nik Henderson

This week's ArtSpeak: WOMEN again features work by Gabriele Münter. (My record player needle is stuck, and I kind of love it!)

Some notes for those who are interested:

While this piece depicts Gabriele's artist-friends Alexej von Jawlensky and Marianne von Werefkin, I instantly saw these two as a couple. And because of their body positions, I imagined them in an argument.

Peace-loving, conflict-averse me hates being in an argument with a loved one! So I thought that might be fertile ground for poetry.

Last week I tried (and failed) at a trinet, so I wanted to try again this week. And voila! Success! Thanks so much for reading.

*Funny: when I went to the ArtSpeak: WOMEN folder to snag the image, I found a "Trinet after Drought" I wrote earlier this year! I think perhaps the trinet is my new triolet (form I go to when I don't know what to write!).

Trinet after an Argument

Together but
not together—
hearts caught in a summer riptide,
all heat, bees, and prickly grass—
who will
be first
to reach?

- Irene Latham

Everything I Need to Know About Waiting I Learned in the Garden

noreply@blogger.com (Irene Latham) — Fri, 26 Jun 2026 10:30:00 +0000

Hello and Happy Poetry Friday! Be sure to visit Tricia at The Miss Rumphius Effect for Roundup.

This week I've been thinking about waiting. Waiting for news. Waiting for the right time. Waiting for an important event.

Life is full of waiting, isn't it?

I remember reading something about how women are the ones who wait, and I wanted to rail against it. I don't want to wait, I want to DO!

But sometimes waiting IS doing. Like in the garden. And so, for this week's ArtSpeak: WOMEN I wrote this wee poem about gardens and life and waiting.

A couple of process notes:

I am kind of in love with Gabriele Münter right now.

I had at least half a dozen false starts to this poem. I abandoned most of them because they were too long for this particular series....all my ArtSpeak! poems must fit and be legible on the graphic cards I create over at Canva.

(Apparently I have a lot to say about gardening...I'm tucking this revelation away to revisit another day...maybe there's a larger project I can create??)

When I realized I was going long, I decided to restrain myself with a short poetry form.

First I tried a rispetto, but it just didn't stick.

Next I tried a trinet, and came VERY close, but was one word too long...and I decided the word was essential enough to dump the trinet form and just go free verse.

I like the bit of humor that emerged!

Where I landed for today's offering is quite far away from where I started, with two lines from my journal that I thought would be the heart of the poem:

What you call madness! chaos! obsession!

I call a devotion to beauty.

So I will save those lines for another (longer) poem. Thanks so much for reading.

Everything I Need to Know about Waiting I Learned in the Garden

Wait for
better weather.

Wait for seeds to sprout,
vines to twine
buds to blossom.

Wait, it died?!

Sigh.
Try again next year.

—Irene Latham

p.s. Another "waiting" poem: Girl, Waiting

For what are the bones of summer?

noreply@blogger.com (Irene Latham) — Fri, 19 Jun 2026 10:30:00 +0000

Hello and Happy Poetry Friday! Be sure to visit Buffy Silverman for Roundup.

I'm away from my desk today, summering with a friend. Don't you love summer adventures? Today's ArtSpeak: WOMEN speaks to the magic of summer. Wishing you all that—and more! Thanks for reading.

For what are the bones of summer?

sun / bleached sky
craggy peaks / asleep

dreams / in bloom

- Irene Latham

Dinosaur poems!

noreply@blogger.com (Irene Latham) — Fri, 12 Jun 2026 10:30:00 +0000

Hello and Happy Poetry Friday! Be sure to visit Linda at A Word Edgewise for Roundup.

Quick heads-up: Come In! Come In! Wordspinners to Welcome You Home is now available for you to preview on NetGalley!

It's Summer Reading time...hooray! The theme this year is "Dinosaurs," and I was delighted when my local library invited me to come share dino poetry with the kiddos! I packed up my stack of poetry books, including:

Dinos That Drive by Suzy Levinson, illus. by Dustin Harbin

Last Laughs: Prehistoric Epitaphs by J. Patrick Lewis and Jane Yolen, illus. by Jeffrey Stewart Timmins

Tyrannosaurus Was a Beast: Dinosaur Poems by Jack Prelutsky, illus. by Arnold Lobel

Dinothesaurus: Prehistoric Poems and Paintings by Douglas Florian

In the Past by David Elliott, illus. by Matthew Trueman

...and not poetry, but my kids' favorite dino picture book:

If the Dinosaurs Came Back by Bernard Most

And of course I wrote a few dinosaur poems, too! Here's one called "Message for a Long-Gone Dinosaur" that started as a tricube, and became an extended tricube. (Notice I started the tricube structure right in the title!)

I also helped kids create their own dinosaur poems. Fun!

I guess I still had dinos on the brain when it came to writing my ArtSpeak: WOMEN poem, because it, too, has a dino theme! I had fun exploring some drawings by sculptor Ruth Asawa. Thanks so much for reading.

What you call

watermelons,

watermelons, fresh

from the patch

I believe

are really

dinosaur eggs

ready to hatch!

- Irene Latham

Girl Finds Power / Learning from Elders poem + Revision Notes

noreply@blogger.com (Irene Latham) — Fri, 05 Jun 2026 10:30:00 +0000

Hello and Happy Poetry Friday! Be sure to visit the ever-enthusiastic-for-poetry-and-life Mona Voelkel for Roundup.

me and mom at a quilt show
photo booth :)

I've been thinking this week about the woman who've most influenced me in my life: my mother, of course. My paternal grandmother, Grandma Dykes, who taught me about love and cooking and gardening; my maternal grandmother, Grandma Oslund, who was a chemist and a librarian long before women regularly held those positions...and she was also a wizard with a needle and stayed actively involved in community leadership right up until her death; my mother-in-law Bobbie Nell Holcomb Latham who was a southern "steel magnolia" through and through, and taught me about hospitality, southern cooking, fashion, home decor, shopping, self-care, family traditions, and family business; and a host of other woman who've mentored me in one way or another.

The one that popped into my head while writing this week's ArtSpeak: WOMEN poem is Jana Lile, the mother of the girls I babysat regularly for quite a few years. Not only was Jana a loving mother, but she modeled for me all the things women can do while raising a family. It was her attitude more than anything. She made my world bigger and helped me find my power—a process that continues to this day! So this one's for you, Jana! (I've also left a few process/revision notes below!)

Riding with Aunt Jana

Jana prepping for the 1991 bridal shower
she threw for me. :)

In a world of no
and can’t
it’s Aunt Jana
who reins the carriage
down an open road
lined with giant trees

As we bump along,
the horse’s tail
swishes yes yes
steady hooves clop
you can
you will

And the trees
bend before me

- Irene Latham

Lucky me, I was able to spend time lately with poets through Inked Voices. In those sessions, the need/desire for revision strategies came up again and again. With that in mind, I wanted to share some of my revisions on this poem:

When I started this poem, it had a placeholder name "Polly." Likely because we've been re-watching Peaky Blinders, and one of the powerhouse women characters is named Polly. But then I remembered Tom Sawyer's Aunt Polly, and I wanted to change the name. "Jana" was first to pop up for me, so there you go!

I didn't want this poem to have a lot of punctuation, so I used stanza breaks to act as sentence enders and then went back and added capital letters at the start of each stanza to help convey the "sentence" more easily for readers.

The first draft had a different ending, but I decided it was too on-the-nose (about child realizing she might rein a cart someday). Poems should show more and tell less-- and use images. That's what makes it magic! And this poem is, ultimately, about the magical moment of empowerment. And that's when the image for the last stanza came to me. Only it first came as "bend down before me." But you know and I know that we don't really need "down" for the reader to get the image, so I cut that word.

Another word choice thing: I originally had "tall" trees in the first stanza. But when I added the magic in the last stanza, I wanted it to be a more magical descriptor. Thus "giant."

Please let me know if this is useful, and I may include such notes in the future!

RSVP and other poems about writing letters

noreply@blogger.com (Irene Latham) — Fri, 29 May 2026 10:30:00 +0000

Hello and Happy Poetry Friday! Be sure to visit Mary Lee at A(nother) Year of Reading for Roundup.

Today's ArtSpeak: WOMEN poem features a piece by Gabrielle Münter that I've written on before, during 2020, my "Red" year.

Thanks to Catherine at Reading to the Core for suggesting I write after Gabrielle's work! I've selected a few more of her pieces I'll tackle later in the year.

Like many of you, I LOVE sending and receiving snail mail. So no wonder this piece called to me once again. Thanks so much for reading.

Speaking of mail, I recently received in my postal box this bewitching stitchery from our hostess/poet wrangler Mary Lee. I commissioned her to embroider a favorite line from the book I wrote with Dahlia Hamza Constantine, A Good Morning for Giddo. What a special keepsake... I LOVE it so much!!

Oh, and have you seen Little Truths Studio Snail Mail Club Subscription? Fun! Now here's the poem. :)

RSVP

My pen darts down the page

a bullet train blasting past every crossing

How delight tempers

trepidation in this blur of words

So what if we crash

yes yes I’ll be there

You are my favorite destination

- Irene Latham

And here's the 2020 ArtSpeak: RED poem... "When I Write to You I Put on My Red Shoes"

In 2019 during ArtSpeak: HAPPY I wrote "The Letter" after a piece by Mary Cassatt.

On the day I finally decided, Raven was waiting for me

noreply@blogger.com (Irene Latham) — Fri, 22 May 2026 10:30:00 +0000

Hello and Happy Poetry Friday! Be sure to visit Carol at The Apples in my Orchard for Roundup.

Memorial Day weekend. How can that be?! Graduations, weddings, vacations...everyone is off and doing something! I, too, am away from my desk today, but I did want to share two things:

1. It rained last night. Hooray! My plants are looking very happy this morning. :)

Also, some lovely reviews for Some Starry Night have been coming in! Y'all, no book I've ever written has generated more personal notes, texts, and mail than this one. It makes me SO HAPPY to hear from readers how the book is impacting them. It's exactly what Emily and Vincent would have wanted. A thousand thank yous!

"A fanciful what-if that makes an unlikely relationship seem not only possible, but joyous." - Kirkus

★★★★★"Beautifully written and totally immersive, readers who adore literary and art history, romantic tragedy, and nineteenth-century Paris will adore this book. Very highly recommended." - Reader's Favorite reviews

2. This week's ArtSpeak: WOMEN poem! Art by Spanish surrealist artist Remedios Varo. This one is so up my alley... I was immediately sucked into the encounter between human and wild in this very intriguing setting... I learned the title of the piece translates to something like "playing hooky from school." This is my kind of "school!" Thanks so much for reading.

On the day I finally decided, Raven was waiting for me

I knew you'd come, she said, eyes glittery & wet.
Owl and Fox watched from the heat
of their cozy-holes & I was tempted, but—

Let's go, I said, in a voice thick as snow.
Goodbye, compass! Goodbye, maps!
A soft wind set the treetops singing

& a current of courage sizzled my heart
open. No more pretending.
I came to the woods to vanish.

- Irene Latham

Introducing WORDSPINNERS...and Welcome, Amy Hevron!

noreply@blogger.com (Irene Latham) — Fri, 15 May 2026 10:30:00 +0000

Hello and Happy Poetry Friday! Be sure to visit Patricia at Reverie for Roundup.

Quick announcement and invitation before we dive in with our featured guest!!! You are welcome to join the fun at SCBWI Wisconsin's "Engaging Stories" fall conference, Oct. 8-10, 2026, Green Lake Conference Center. I'm delighted to join the esteemed faculty and also present an intensive on applying poetic elements to ALL types of writing. Hooray!

Today it's my pleasure to welcome author and illustrator Amy Hevron to Live Your Poem, to talk about our new book Come In! Come In! Wordspinners to Welcome You Home (poems by Irene Latham, illus. by Amy Hevron, AstraPublishing/Wordsong) coming Oct. 20, 2026. I've just learned it will also be released in audio, which doesn't happen often for poetry books. Hooray! Pre-order here.

When I pitched this book (way back in 2018!), I said, it's like a Richard Scarry word book...but POEMS! So, poems for the littles, about everyday things that you find in a home: spoon, door, lamp, etc... And also, a tour of all kinds of homes: cabin, lighthouse, yurt, and more! 66 poems in a 48-page book. The lovelies Rebecca Davis and Millie von Platen have helped make the book the best it can be!

Charles Waters, Nikki Grimes,
Irene Latham

What then, is a "wordspinner"? Well, I'm glad you asked! It's a name I've given a kind of poem many of us were already writing...a poem about a word.

Remember that Nikki Grimes wordplay exercise years ago at Today's Little Ditty? Wordspinners grew out of it, and I'm super grateful Nikki gave me her blessing to develop it into a bona fide poetry form!

And when Amy Hevron agreed to illustrate the collection...well, I knew it was going to be something special. And it is! Here's Amy, responding to four simple prompts, as is

tradition here at Live Your Poem, thanks to a poetry book Fresh Delicious: Poems from the Farmer's Market (illus. by Mique Moriuchi, AstraPublishing/Wordsong), now available in paperback!

Without further ado, please welcome Amy Hevron!

Amy Hevron

AH: Thank you, Irene for inviting me to do a guest post on your blog to celebrate Come In! Come In! I loved illustrating this cozy book and can’t wait to share it with the world!

FRESH

AH: I loved this manuscript when I received it. And I was drawn to this new kind of “wordspinners”poetry you had created. My mind instantly thought of visuals for all the little poems about different types of homes and rooms. It reminded me of the dollhouse I had as a child. I still have a few of the tiny furniture pieces from the dollhouse, like this amazing miniature ladderback chair and this little wooden piano. Both were inspirations for the “Chair” and “Piano” poems in the book.

DIFFICULT

AH: This is the first time I’ve illustrated a collection of poems so figuring out the pagination was a challenge. Here’s my early messy thumbnail sketches for the book. Initially, we tried to fit it all into the standard 32-pages, but all those houses and scenes needed more breathing room. So we ended up adding several spreads including quite a few to the beginning of the book to help the reader gradually “come in” to the story. So what started as a difficulty lead to the opportunity to illustrate one of my favorite scenes, a German cuckoo clock with whirling dervish bunnies, to introduce the concept of wordspinners.

WHAT IS A WORDSPINNER?

A poetry form inspired by a Nikki Grimes

wordplay exercise. It seeks to define a word by

spinning together the sound of the word and

the function of the word. The only rule is that

the first line of the poem must end with “word.”

Length varies. Rhyming optional.

WORDSPINNER I

a dizzy-giddy word,

a let’s-go-fishing-for-a-fresh-definition word.

A word that aims to rearrange the furniture

in your brain.

[note: there is a "Wordspinner II" poem on the back cover of the book!]

DELICIOUS

AH: My first thought for “delicious” goes to the “Shelter” spread that features lots of yummy food. And beyond that, I loved letting my imagination run wild on this book. Illustrating critters in clothing living in all these little scenes was a delight. I also had fun hiding additional “houses” in the scenes, like the cuckoo clock. And also my dollhouse that makes an appearance in the last spread.

Here are 3 poems from the "Shelter" spread:

MUG

a snug-in-your-hands word,

it holds just a hint

of vanilla.

It’s for sipping

away your worries

on a swirly, wintry day.

MILK

a gulping word,

it makes a mustache

and builds up bones.

It never forgets to say,

Mmmmm.

JAM

a sweet glob word,

it’s for licking and dipping.

It’s sticky and drippy

and loves fingers best of all.

ANYTHING ELSE

AH:

I’m always such a fan of seeing people’s creative process, so I thought I’d share mine. From those first messy thumbnail sketches, I worked up tighter ones, like this chipmunk scene in a treehouse. Then I moved onto painting the final art. For this book, I painted with acrylic on oak

plywood panels, one of my typical mediums. Here’s a picture of the stack of finished oak panels for Come In! Come In! After the initial painting, I scanned in the panels and finalized the illustrations in Photoshop. There, I color corrected the scenes and added finishing touches.

IL: Thank you, Amy!!

Friends, I have bought one of Amy's oak panels from the book to be displayed in my home gallery. I can't wait!

Today's ArtSpeak:WOMEN features another new-to-me artist from the Harper's Bazaar list. Paige Bradley is a sculptor like no other. I kind of fell in love with her work...lots of powerful women, certainly a celebration of the female form, wrought with such grace and beauty...do check her out. When I found Apex, The Wings, I knew I had to write about it. (I didn't read her statement about the piece until AFTER I wrote my poem...and I was like, wow, I got from the piece what the artist intended. Cool!) Thanks so much for reading.

Papa promised someday I would find my wings

and today as I leapt
plied pirouetted across the stage

feathers sprouted spread
and now I am halfway flying

halfway waiting
for the other wing to emerge

halfway believing
one wing is enough

- Irene Latham

coyote sees the world clearly poem

noreply@blogger.com (Irene Latham) — Fri, 08 May 2026 10:30:00 +0000

Hello and Happy Poetry Friday! Be sure to visit poet/collage artist/kind person Cathy Stenquist for Roundup.

Did you hear that Derby 152 gave us the first woman trainer to win the Kentucky Derby? Yep, Cherie DeVaux made history when Golden Tempo won last Saturday. So exciting, esp. for the ten-year-old in me who dreamed of training a horse that my sister would ride to victory in the Kentucky Derby.

Denise, Irene, Donna, Melissa
(not pictured: Shannon)

Also this week I got to hang out with my Garden Girls & learn & dream about all the green, growing things we've planted or will plant in our own gardens. So what if it was raining? It was still inspiring... All about beauty, sustenance, and friendship with each other & the earth!

Coming next week: interview with Amy Hevron, illustrator of Come In! Come In! Wordspinners to Welcome You Home. The book includes 66 "wordspinner" poems written by me about homes and things found inside homes, like spoon, room, and dog! Coming from Astra/Wordsong, Oct. 20, 2026.

Today's ArtSpeak: WOMEN poem features the next artist from the Harper's Bazaar article. I am loving learning about all these amazing women artists! And wow, what a force Jaune Quick-to-See Smith was (she died last year). A member of the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Nation, Smith also created book illustrations, often for poetry books...like The Telling of the World by Joy Harjo. Click to learn more about Smith and her "Trickster" pieces. Thanks so much for reading!

coyote sees the world clearly without looking

snow-seasoned stream
tastes of mountains
far away & long ago

pillow of his paws
padding the pinestraw path
reveals rain
or no rain

hare hiding behind
twining honeysuckle vine,
o how its sweetness

sets his nostrils quivering!

moon howling fat
& golden, reminds him
he's not alone

never has been

- Irene Latham

Marie Antoinette poem

noreply@blogger.com (Irene Latham) — Fri, 01 May 2026 10:30:00 +0000

Hello and Happy Poetry Friday! Be sure to visit Patricia at Reverie for Roundup.

Thanks to all who came out for the 8 Ways to Wake Up Your Poetry! webinar at Inked Voices. What fun!

Thanks also to Paine Elementary and Trussville Public Library for a lovely time yesterday. It's an honor to share about poetry and nonets!

Today's ArtSpeak: WOMEN features a piece from Judy Chicago's 1973 Legendary Women series. This one is titled "Marie Antoinette." Learn more about Judy Chicago's work here. Also, I did a bit of research on Marie and found a lot of good information here. I started out trying to write a short Golden Shovel using "Let them eat cake," but since that's probably myth that she even said those words, it seemed the wrong approach. I decided to dip into her childhood instead...and also added a pertinent detail from her execution (found here). Thanks so much for reading!

When You are the Fifteenth Child of an Empress

Mother doesn't always applaud
when you dance. Often
you are forgotten, left
alone. Independence is made
bearable if you have a sister
you adore. Nothing
can fill the holes inside you—
not silk, secrets, or cake.
All's fair in hate and terror. Still—
Do you want to be right,
or do you want peace?
You stamp on his foot
as you mount the guillotine.

An Emily Dickinson Poetry Friday Roundup!

noreply@blogger.com (Irene Latham) — Fri, 24 Apr 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Hello and welcome to Poetry Friday! Roundup is HERE! Please leave your links below.

Irene Latham &
Lee Alexander
in conversation about
Some Starry Night.

It's been a week... celebrating a book launch and helping my mom through surgery. I added a line to the Progressive Poem and was a guest over at the Stuck Bumblebee Challenge. My sister arrives today, so... more beauty and chaos to come! Isn't that life?!

My new book Some Starry Night explores what might have happened if Emily Dickinson and Vincent van Gogh met in 1886 Paris. It's a re-imagining, as Emily never actually went to Paris or met Vincent. In actuality, she died May 15, 1886.

Two dear ones Lori Ditoro
& Paige Miller surprised
me at the launch!

But, in the land of fiction, one can make impossible dreams happen! I used "informed imagination" based on deep research to extend Emily's life by two years. (The novel largely follows Vincent's in-real-life events, though there are some variations...you can't add Emily Dickinson to someone's life and not create at least a thousand ripples!)

I so wish Emily and Vincent could have actually experienced the love, magic, and mystery they get to experience in the novel!

One of my favorite parts of writing the novel—and certainly one of the most challenging parts—was writing poems in Emily's voice. Because OF COURSE Emily would write poems while in Paris! You can download for free the complete set of 15 "Paris" poems at my website. (There's a pop-up on the home page!)

Things to know about Emily Dickinson's poetry:

no titles

heavy use of the em-dash

common topics include nature and big themes like Death and Time

odd capitalization - usually nouns Emily wanted to personify or emphasize

some rhyme

lots of clever wordplay!

The book includes several poems (and fragments of poems) that the real Emily Dickinson wrote—what fun it was to find the just-right poems for my story! And it also features several poems I wrote for Emily. The following poem is just five lines, but super-important to the story! (No spoilers! IYKYK!) I've had it made into a wee broadside... if you'd like one, please let me know in the comments!

Listen—how the Moon bellows!

Clouds ignite—unseen Fires—

Bodies—mortal—sweep and swirl—

A starry night is made for Kisses—

and Love—Immortal—

- from Some Starry Night by Irene Latham

----

And now, this week's ArtSpeak: WOMEN. Next up on the Harper's Bazaar list is Faith Ringgold. As many of you know, I love quilts, so no surprise, I've written after Faith before. And this gorgeous piece features Vincent van Gogh, so it's kinda perfect for this moment in my life! I decided to keep the poem super-short, because as awesome as April is, I know we're all a bit weary at this point... Thanks so much for reading.

Vincent at the Sunflower Quilting Bee

He offers them fifteen
faces in a vase

they lift their brown sun-
freckled cheeks

they sing
sway
blaze—

for beauty, for freedom
let us praise

- Irene Latham

Progressive Poem is Here!

noreply@blogger.com (Irene Latham) — Tue, 21 Apr 2026 10:30:00 +0000

Welcome to the next line in the 2026 Kidlit Progressive Poem!

What is the Progressive Poem? I’ve taken this wording from Linda Mitchell, who got it from Linda Baie:

It began with Irene Latham, who hosted it from 2012-2019. Those archives of the poem can be found HERE! Margaret Simon took over in 2020, and those archives are HERE!
Here are the rules:
The poem passes from blog to blog.
Each poet/blogger adds a line.
The poem is for children.
Each blogger copies the previous line exactly as written, unless permission from that poet has been given. They then add their own line, offering an introduction if they wish.

Hooray for Tabatha's art, with places named by Donna and Heidi!

Yay for all the poets who have brought us through this land and to this forested stage.

It seems time to bring it back around to the speaker of our poem...how is she feeling now, after listening to the birds? What will she DO?

The Land of Poetry

On my first trip to the Land of Poetry,
I saw anthologies of every color, tall as buildings.
A world of words, wonder on wings, waiting just for me!
Birding for words shimmering, flecked in golden gilding.

Binoculars ready, I toured boulevards and side streets,
exploring vibrant verses, verses so honest and tender.
feathery lyrics, bright flitting avian athletes
soaring ‘cross pages in rhythmic splendor.

In the Land of Poetry, I am the conductor,
seeking oodles of poems that tug at my heart,
a musical medley of sound and structure,
An open mic in Frost Forest! Wonder who’ll take part?

There’s a pause in the program; no one takes the stage
the trees quiver, the audience looks up. Raven lands,

singing Earth’s message of the sage.
“Poetry in motion will be forevermore, from forests to sands.”

“Scatter,” she croaked. “Beyond Wilde Pond, to each and every beach.”
Meek Dove mustered courage and sang, “Instill humanity with compassion and peace.
Let Thackeray’s middle name, from this thicket, hearts reach!”
Her gentle coo-ooo-ooos reverberate, soft as fleece.

Words dart, dimple—Do I dare warble what's in my soul?

--
Karen, take it away! I can't wait to see where we land in just a few days' time!

Here are the fabulous poets contributing to this year's edition:

April 1 Tabatha Yeatts at The Opposite of Indifference
April 2 Cathy Stenquist at A Little Bit of This and That
April 3 Patricia Franz at Reverie
April 4 Donna Smith at Mainely Write
April 5 Janice Scully at Salt City Verse
April 6 Denise Krebs at Dare to Care
April 7 Ruth Hersey at There is no such thing as a God-forsaken town
April 8 Rose Cappelli at Imagine the Possibilities
April 9 Margaret Simon at Reflections on the Teche
April 10 Janet Clare Fagel at Reflections on the Teche
April 11 Diane Davis at Starting Again in Poetry
April 12 Linda Baie at Teacher Dance
April 13 Linda Mitchell at Another Word Edgewise
April 14 Jone MacCulloch at Jone Rush MacCulloch
April 15 Joyce Uglow at Storied Ink
April 16 Carol Varsalona at Beyond Literacy Link
April 17 Robyn Hood Black at Life on the Deckle Edge
April 18 Michele Kogan at More Art for All
April 19 Kim Johnson at Common Threads
April 20 Buffy Silverman
April 21 Irene Latham at Live Your Poem
April 22 Karen Edmisten
April 23 Heidi Mordhorst at my juicy little universe
April 24 Mary Lee Hahn at A(nother) Year of Reading
April 25 Tanita Davis at Fiction, instead of Lies
April 26 Sharon Roy at Pedaling Poet
April 27 Tracey Kiff-Judson at Tangles and Tails

April 28 Tabatha Yeatts at The Opposite of Indifference

A Polka Dot Poem

noreply@blogger.com (Irene Latham) — Fri, 17 Apr 2026 09:30:00 +0000

Irene & Charles
Maynard Public Library

Hello and Happy Poetry Friday! Be sure to visit Heidi at my juicy little universe for Roundup. (Next week's Roundup will be here! Hooray!)

You're invited to view my final Tuesday 2-Minute Writing Tip for the 2026 edition of the series, #35 "How I've Changed as a Writing Teacher." Thanks for your support!

Charles & Irene (photo by
Cathy Stenquist)

What a lovely time at Maynard Book Festival! So many thanks to the people who organized, volunteered, and attended! We heard some wonderful poems from a young patron. :) Special thanks to Mark Malcolm (the King of Kazoos!), the Maynard Public Library, and to Christie, Cindy, and Cathy for their hospitality (not a big enough word for all the ways they made our trip special and comfortable. mwah!). Charles and I couldn't be more grateful. There were many highlights of our weekend, but one that stands out is our walk with Cathy around Walden Pond. Time in nature is everything!

Tonight is the book launch for Some Starry Night. Hooray!

It's been fun (and emotional!) hearing from readers their responses to this, my first novel for adults. Here's a new graphic I made, in case you're wondering if this book is for you. It includes the following endorsement:

"With her poetic voice, Irene Latham delivers a dreamy and engaging read in Some Starry Night. Offering deep research, lyrical writing, and emotional resonance, this story reminds us that it's never too late to risk it all for love." - Julie Cantrell, New York Times bestselling author of Perennials

You can still enter the Goodreads Giveaway through April 30. Good luck!

Today's ArtSpeak: WOMEN features Yayoi Kusama from the Harper's Bazaar list of most influential women artists. Kusama is known as "the Polkadot Princess," because she often uses polka dots en masse to create an experience of feeling insignificant as individuals and interconnectedness to others and the universe.

Polkadot trees. Polkadot lights. And on and on! If you want to learn more about Yayoi Kusama and her work, please view this (short) video. Excellent!

Kusama's penchant for polkadots made me think of Rebecca Kai Dotlich, who loves them too! So I reached out to Rebecca and asked her to choose the last line of the poem—without showing her the first lines. :) Here are the choices I gave Rebecca:

the whole world is a polkadot – even you.

she was a polkadot, and so are you!

Paint isn't what makes a polkadot. The polkadot is you!

And here's where we landed. Enjoy!

Polka Dots

for Rebecca Kai Dotlich

There was a poet
who loved polka dots:
on dresses and purses,
cows and horses!
She polka-dotted plates.
She polka-dotted chairs.
But sported polka dots
in her hair. She polka-dotted
trees, sky and moon—
until there were no more stars,
no more leaves.
Instead? All polka dots!
Until one day she polka-dotted
her tongue, cheeks and knees.
She coughed polka dots
and laughed polka dots.
My friends, she wheezed!
And that's when she knew:
she was a polka dot,
and so are you.

- Irene Latham

p.s. this poem has a rhythm and whimsy similar to one of my most favorite children's poems: "Knitted Things" by Karla Kuskin.

I Brake for Butterflies + Giveaway!

noreply@blogger.com (Irene Latham) — Fri, 10 Apr 2026 10:30:00 +0000

Hello and Happy Poetry Friday! Be sure to visit Jone Rush MacCulloch for Roundup.

SO MUCH GOODNESS in our community this National Poetry Month. Hooray!

You're invited to view Tuesday 2-Minute Writing Tip 34, "What is Poetry?" It features one of my favorite poetry writing tools. Thanks for your support!

Today I'm away from my desk, en route to Maynard, Massachusetts, where Charles Waters and I will be sharing about our poetry anthologies at Maynard Book Festival. We're excited to re-connect with children's poet and librarian Mark Malcolm, whom we first met at Boyds Mills, the retreat center formerly known as Highlights. We're also super-excited to be meeting up with other Boyds Mills poets, Cindy Greene and Cathy Steinquist. You never know what will happen when poets get together! :)

My first novel for adults Some Starry Night releases next Tuesday! To celebrate, you're invited to enter a Goodreads giveaway—we're offering 3 signed copies of the book! Please share with others you think may be interested in reading about Vincent van Gogh & Emily Dickinson meeting in 1886 Paris. Good luck!

Goodreads Book Giveaway

Some Starry Night

by Irene Latham

Giveaway ends April 30, 2026.

See the giveaway details at Goodreads.

Enter Giveaway

Today's ArtSpeak: WOMEN features a piece by Helen Frankenthaler. She was influenced by Abstract Impressionism, but she did her own thing: a soak-stain technique that created a luminosity to her work. I love it! I found quite a few I'd like to write after. Again, titles matter. Here, I've selected an "untitled" piece so I could focus on my own emotional reaction to the piece. No doubt this poem was also influenced by this article about monarch butterflies being on the edge of extinction. ...and the reality of my driving experience. Thanks so much for reading!

I brake for butterflies

too often not fast

enough—

wings crash / against glass

I break

for butterflies

- Irene Latham

Stitch (a Picture Book!) Like an Egyptian with Dahlia Hamza Constantine

noreply@blogger.com (Irene Latham) — Fri, 03 Apr 2026 10:30:00 +0000

Hello and Happy Poetry Friday! Be sure to visit Matt at Radio, Rhythm, and Rhyme for Roundup.

Click here to view this week's Tuesday 2-Minute Writing Tip 33 "What is Success (for Writers)."

Also I blogged over at Smack Dab in the Middle about writing identity & the kindness of readers...like YOU!

Today I'm excited to welcome to Live Your Poem Dahlia Hamza Constantine, my dear friend and co-author of A GOOD MORNING FOR GIDDO (illus. by Basma Hosam, Nancy Paulsen Books) which releases next Tuesday, April 7. Don't miss this post where I blogged about Dahlia and me and this book earlier this year!

Y'all, we sold this book back in 2021, so it's so, so lovely to see it finally in print. It's my gazillionth time to work with editor Stacey Barney, which makes me feel like the luckiest girl in the world! And this is Dahlia's debut book, so I want her to have all the experiences!

As is the tradition here at Live Your Poem, I've invited Dahlia to respond to 4 simple prompts inspired by Fresh Delicious: Poems from the Farmers' Market (illus. by Mique Moriuchi, WordSong)—which releases next week in paperback!! Which means new life for an old (2016) project! And makes me super-happy to imagine these fruit-n-veggie-love-imaginative-poems finding new readers. Hooray!

You will also find some asides from me below in pink. Thanks so much for reading!

FRESH

Dahlia at Mamaj restaurant (which
was a palace from 1469)
DHC: The freshest part of writing A Good Morning for Giddo was realizing… oh, we’re really writing this together.

I had never written fiction collaboratively before, and suddenly I was inside a shared Google Doc with Irene - building Somaya and Giddo’s world line by line.

There was so much laughter. [IL: Dahlia has a magical, musical laugh. Joy joy joy!]

We were writing scenes like Somaya racing through the market, clutching her secret stitching, determined to get to the tentmakers… while Giddo gently slows her down—“Today is a day to savor being alive.” And somehow, that became our process too. We would rush toward an idea, then pause, linger, reshape it, laugh, and begin again.

It never felt solitary. It felt like walking through the market together—turning corners, discovering something new each time. [IL: Exactly. There were so many surprises, so many connections between the two of us and between us and our story! And Poetry Friends: these two sentences are exactly what I'm after whenever I write or read a poem...turning corners, discovering something new...]

DIFFICULT

DHC: Picture books are tiny… and completely unforgiving. [Truth!]

The hardest part of writing Giddo was getting the language exactly right—so it could carry all that sensory richness in just a few words.

old Cairo market

We wanted you to hear the market—the old love songs on the radios, the chorus of voices, the call to prayer. We wanted you to smell the fava beans in lemony olive oil, the jasmine in the air. We wanted you to feel Somaya’s urgency and Giddo’s steady, anchoring presence.

And that meant every single word mattered.

There were times when Irene and I would try twenty different words for one line. Not exaggerating. Twenty.

It was meticulous. It was a little absurd.

And we laughed the whole time. [A word we (apparently) love? Shimmer. Shimmered. Shimmery. We had too many of these in the story, and Stacey asked us to revise...which led to, you guessed it, shimmery laughter!]

DELICIOUS

DHC: The delicious part is that moment when everything finally clicks.

When a line like “even the Sphinx smiles” lands just right. When the rhythm of “good morning with roses… and jasmine… and sunshine” begins to echo through the book like a song. When Somaya’s journey—from rushing ahead to slowing down—feels complete.

Because this book is so sensory, those moments felt immersive. We weren’t just writing the market—we were inside it, wandering past the tentmakers, the ink sellers, the tea, the music, the shimmer of fabric and abalone shells. [shimmer! Big smile!]

And then I went back.

the light in the market

I’ve been to the old market in Cairo twice since writing the book, and both times I felt it—I wasn’t just myself anymore. I was Somaya, noticing everything with fresh eyes, feeling the story layered over the real place. [I LOVE imagining Dahlia/Somaya at the market! I wish I could go! It has been many, many years since I was in Cairo, but y'all I can still smell it!]

But honestly? The most delicious part was working with Irene.

That shared delight in getting it just right—that was the magic. [Aw, big blushy thanks. And: Yes! It was delicious and delightful working with Dahlia. Did I mention JOY? And MAGIC!]

ANYTHING ELSE

DHC: At its heart, this book is about slowing down. [Children need this message. *I* need this message!]

Somaya begins the story rushing—we must get to the tentmakers!—and ends by saying, “I like it when we take our time.”

That shift feels very true to the writing process, too.

chairs with abalone inlay

We thought we were writing a simple story about a morning in the market. But what we were really doing was learning how to pause, notice, listen, and let the story unfold at its own pace.

Also, if you ever find yourself debating twenty words for a single sentence… just know you’re in excellent company.

And maybe—just maybe—you’re getting close. [Can you tell Dahlia is a former teacher?? I have learned so much from her (and not just about storytelling!]

Thank you, dear Dahlia, and thank you, readers, with roses and jasmine and sunshine!

Thanks also to Dahlia's mom, Sawsan Hamza, who was so generous in checking the accuracy of everything and gifted me an authentic piece from the Tentmakers of Cairo! So so special!

And now, today's ArtSpeak: WOMEN poem. Next up on the Harper's Bazaar list is assemblage artist Betye Saar—another new-to-me artist! I was instantly drawn to her piece entitled "Anticipation," as it brought up for me some conflicting thoughts I've had about mindfulness and living in the present moment, namely that our instruction is not to be in the past or the future. But sometimes I really LOVE anticipation. Sometimes the anticipation is better than the actual thing! Or at least amplifies the thing. I don't know. I have found much more peace in my life by letting go of expectations, for sure. At the same time, I still enjoy the buzzy feeling of anticipation and am trying to focus on it (rather than sliding into worry or scripting something that will never actually happen and only lead to disappointment!).

For Your Information

Yes, anticipation is participation
in expectation—
For some, a celebration.
For others, an abomination.
My observation?
Anticipation is best
as pollination—

appreciation (not hyperventilation)
leads to more exhilaration,
less perspiration,
and (sometimes) intoxication
spiked with growing realization.
So. Won't you accept
this invitation
to take a vacation
from self-flagellation?
Give your anticipation
a standing ovation. Yes?

Yes! Congratulations!

- Irene Latham

Celebrating TWILIGHT with Marcie Flinchum Atkins!

noreply@blogger.com (Irene Latham) — Fri, 27 Mar 2026 10:30:00 +0000

Hello and Happy Poetry Friday! Be sure to visit Marcie for a WHEN TWILIGHT COMES Poetry Friday Roundup! It's an enchanting bit of loveliness, according to the starred Kirkus review. Of course it is; Marcie wrote it! I can't wait to get my copy in the mail.

Quick announcement: this week's Tuesday 2-Minute Writing Tip 32 "The Truth about Book Awards" shares some thoughts from my experience serving on multiple book award committees over the past decade. Enjoy!

When Marcie asked us all to flood the internet with images and poems about twilight, I immediately searched my computer files. I found some "twilight" poems, but even more "dusk" poems! Apparently, my poet-brain prefers "dusk."

That discovery sent me on an internet search to find the difference between twilight and dusk. (Spoiler: dusk is simply one phase of twilight, defined by the degree to which the sun has set!)

Then I searched my own files again for "sunrise" and "sunset" and found quite a few of both. Here's a small sampling.

Poem Found in a Ditch at Dusk

Twilight Time

Impression (of a Sunrise)

Alabama Sunrise Trinet

Recipe for a Sunset

(Elephant) Dust Bath at Dusk (from Dear Wandering Wildebeest: And Other Poems from the Watering Hole by Irene Latham, illus. by Anna Wadham)

(Elephant) Dust Bath at Dusk

Dust Bath at Dusk

Trunks become
dust hoses,
beasts strike poses

and preen in silhouette
created by the late,
hazy screen.

Soon skin
is powdered
in a red-grit shower

that banishes bugs
and becomes next day's
sunscreen.

One final
wallow,
one last trumpet--

all clean!

- Irene Latham

"How to Catch a Poem" (featuring dusk-y fireflies and found in The Proper Way to Meet a Hedgehog: And Other How-To Poems selected by Paul B. Janeczko, illus. by Richard Jones). Confession: this is a favorite of my own poems!

How to Catch a Poem

Step into the trees

on a summer night —

follow starshine

and cricketsong.

Be still, keep quiet;

watch for the flicker.

(No chasing,

let it come to you.)

Reach. Hold it in the safe

cave of your fingers

until the wings tickle.

Marvel at the glow

then

let it go.

- Irene Latham

---

AND I decided to write a new twilight poem for this week's ArtSpeak: WOMEN...only it morphed as poems do...and again with "dusk!"

The art is by abstract expressionist Joan Mitchell. I wanted to play with punctuation and repetition. Once again, I used the title of the piece (Blue Tree) as my jumping-off place. Thanks so much for reading!

Mama Tree Teaches Little Tree / the Color of Time

See / Little Tree?

Dawn tree / pink tree

Noon tree / green tree

Dusk tree / blue tree

Sweet dreams / Little Tree!

- Irene Latham

Poetry + Art = Some Starry Night by Irene Latham

noreply@blogger.com (Irene Latham) — Fri, 20 Mar 2026 10:30:00 +0000

Hello and Happy Poetry Friday! Be sure to visit Tanita S. Davis for Roundup.

First: this week's Tuesday 2-Minute Writing Tip 31 is all about Writers & AI. Find out how I'm using AI, and how I'm not.

Second: I'm thrilled to be teaching another poetry webinar over at Inked Voices! Last year I tackled punctuation in poetry. This year I'm talking about one of my most favorite elements of poetry: surprise! Join me to learn "8 Ways to Wake Up Your Poetry: How to Create Surprise, Tension & the Unexpected Inevitable." Monday, April 27, 2026, 3 pm CST. Click to register.

I'll also be offering a limited number of poetry consultations in conjunction with this offering. So, if you need encouragement and/or feedback, I'm excited to help.

Third: My first novel for adults is coming next month from Historium Press! It's a blend of history and imagination that explores the lives of Vincent van Gogh and Emily Dickinson and answers the question: What—or who—inspired The Starry Night?

Y'all, I have long wanted to write a big, bittersweet love story...and now I have! I loved communing with Emily and Vincent.

That question you've heard about your ideal dinner party? Emily and Vincent are certainly at the top of my guest list! And this book is all about me exploring how a chance meeting between these two brilliant souls might change their art, their lives, and...US. It includes poems, letters, history, magic, mystery...and did I mention I loved writing it? I also got to write some poems for the book in the style of Emily Dickinson.. a whole series called "The Paris Poems by Emily Dickinson." More on this soon!

For a limited time, the publisher is running a pre-order special on the e-book: 99 cents! I really, really hope you like it.

Finally, my ArtSpeak: WOMEN piece this week features a Warhol-esque piece by Elaine Sturtevant. (I'm still working my way through the Harper's Bazaar list of women artists!) Sturtevant was known for her repetitions, particularly of Warhol's work. That got me thinking about repetition in nature, repetition in gardening, van Gogh's repetition in his art, and repetition in poetry...and then I had to stop! Because there are worlds within those worlds, and my get-to-do list is long. So I stopped myself at two (love!) poems, which I offer to you today. Thanks so much for reading.

May garden

the way my heart flares each time

I remember you

- Irene Latham

Repetitions

Ten thousand—

That’s how many times

a child mounts a bike

when learning to ride

A gardener in Hawaii

may plant ten thousand

hibiscus

to unify a garden

Your favorite artist paints

the same sky

ten thousand times

without moving on

No wonder

I whisper I love you

ten thousand times each day,

knowing ten thousand

will never be

enough.

- Irene Latham

In the Grip of the Ice by Doraine Bennett GIVEAWAY

noreply@blogger.com (Irene Latham) — Fri, 13 Mar 2026 10:30:00 +0000

Hello and Happy Poetry Friday! Be sure to visit Linda at TeacherDance for Roundup.

This week's Tuesday 2-Minute Writing Tip 30 is for fiction writers, about leaning into fear when you're creating a plot. I hope you find it useful!

And now I'm excited to welcome my dear friend Doraine Bennett to the blog to respond to some simple prompts as they apply to her brand-new verse novel In the Grip of the Ice (Bandersnatch Books, 2026).

What's it about?

According to Kirkus: "A teenage stowaway records the disastrous course of Sir Ernest Shackleton’s 1914-1917 Antarctic expedition."

Here's the blurb I provided after reading the ARC: "Stow away for a few hours in these pages to experience a dark, frozen world that—thanks to Bennett's deep research and vivid poetic voice—radiates warmth, humanity, and hope."

*Leave a comment below to be entered to win a signed copy of the book! Entries open thru 11:59 pm Monday March 16. Winner announced here on the blog Friday March 20!

I remember Doraine reading snippets of this work in progress years ago, so it's especially fun to see it now in book format, soon to be in readers' hands! Here's the opening poem:

Welcome, Doraine!

FRESH

DB: This manuscript has languished for a long time, collecting digital dust in a virtual drawer. I discovered Bandersnatch Books in the summer of 2024 when they sent out a call for submissions. They specialize in books that are a little off the beaten path—stories traditional publishers often don’t have room or time for—and they are especially interested in works that bridge the reading space between middle grade and young adult.

In January of 2025, I received word that they wanted to publish my book. For a while it felt like a dream. Bandersnatch is a small press that publishes only five books a year, so I was absolutely thrilled.

When Shackleton’s ship, Endurance, was discovered beneath the ice of the Weddell Sea in 2022, interest in the expedition—and in Shackleton’s remarkable leadership that ultimately brought every man home—was reignited around the world. The wreck was found nearly 10,000 feet below the surface, less than two miles from the location the ship’s navigator, Frank Worsley, had recorded when it sank 107 years earlier.

More than a hundred years later, the story still has the power to capture our imagination. My book returns to that remarkable expedition through the voice of the young stowaway who secretly climbed aboard the Endurance—a nineteen-year-old who had no idea he was stepping into one of the greatest survival stories ever told.

DIFFICULT

DB: The most difficult aspect of writing In the Grip of the Ice was piecing together the journey from the journals the men left behind. Every story has many angles of vision. Each man recorded what he saw and felt in the moment, and those perspectives don’t always align neatly. The events remain the same, but the story bends slightly depending on whose voice is telling it.

Doraine's office wall while trying
to make sense of the story.

Some men wrote about the brutal cold. Others about the work of hauling sledges. Still others about the strange routines that developed as the ship drifted in the ice for months—reading aloud, playing games, writing letters home that might never be sent.

My task was to gather all of those voices and wrangle them into a single, coherent narrative while still honoring the human experience inside the journals.

DELICIOUS

DB: Poetry is delicious. It compresses language until every word has flavor. A single image can carry the weight of an entire scene.

When I began writing In the Grip of the Ice, I discovered that poetry was the best way to hold the fragments I found in the journals of Shackleton’s crew. Verse allowed me to distill moments—the groaning of the ice, the endless drift, the uncertainty of survival—into something that could carry both the event and the emotion of the men living through it.

Poetry also has a unique ability to enter the inner landscape of a character. In a few lines, it can hold fear, hope, loneliness, or courage, and invite the reader to imagine not just what happened, but what it might have felt like to stand on that vast Antarctic ice.

There was another reason poetry felt right for this story. Shackleton himself often recited poetry to encourage his men during the darkest stretches of the expedition. Telling the story in verse felt like honoring that small but powerful thread running through their journey.

ANYTHING ELSE

DB: I love reading aloud, so sharing a few of these poems brought me so much delight when friends organized a launch party earlier this week. It was just so much fun! Poetry really does come alive when it’s spoken. Hearing the rhythm of the lines and feeling the pauses land in a room full of people made the story feel new again, even to me.

After spending so many years quietly working on the manuscript, it was a joy to hear the words spoken aloud and shared with others. For a moment, it felt as if the long journey of this book had finally found its voice.

Thank you, Doraine!! Y'all, don't miss this book. It's special!

For my ArtSpeak: WOMEN poem, I've chosen from the Harper's Bazaar list another new-to-me artist, Leonora Carrington. Her work is surreal, wildly imaginative, and, okay, odd. But that's what's so cool about it! I was instantly drawn into this piece from the title alone: And Then We Met the Daughter of the Minotaur. A story is happening! What is that story? It could be so many things! I highly recommend the great (short) video here from MoMA (where the piece resides).

Also, I needed a refresher on mythical creatures. Minotaur = half human/half bull. Centaur = half human/half horse. I always get those confused!

AND...I've been thinking a lot about how this life journey is much less about acquiring things and much more about letting things go—shaving away all the not-you things until you become just yourself, and nothing else. Thanks so much for reading!

And Then We Saw the Daughter of the Minotaur

She sat like a queen woken
from a dream of flying.

Her father may have been defeated,
but that didn't stop her

from dressing in a crimson gown,
unleashing a sky full of bubbles.

You must learn to let go, she said.
Let your feelings rise like magic bubbles

then POP!
See them shimmer, disappear.

- Irene Latham

Desert Rain poems

noreply@blogger.com (Irene Latham) — Fri, 06 Mar 2026 11:30:00 +0000

Hello and Happy Poetry Friday! Be sure to visit Karen Edmisten for Roundup.

You're invited to view Tuesday 2-Minute Writing Tip 29: Small Steps Lead to Big Writing. I hope you find the message useful!

I also shared some poems over at Smack Dab in the Middle, an Invitation to Bravery for Writers. Courage comes in all sizes and seasons...

What a thrill for Charles & me to be featured on Book Breaks video series for For the Win: Poems About Phenomenal Athletes. It was fun sharing poems from the book about LeBron James (by JaNay Brown-Wood) and Eileen Gu (by Nancy Tupper Ling), in honor of her recent Olympics medals! Kaylyn Farneth has created such a special series for teachers sharing booko-love... be sure to get to know her!

Today's ArtSpeak: WOMEN features work by another new-to-me artist: Agnes Martin. I am intrigued by abstract work, which feels so mysterious to me! I lean heavily on titles of the works to help me find meaning. I instantly loved the "feeling" of "Desert Rain." Stark, yes, but also full of promise...so much unseen! It carried me to Death Valley National Park, which I have long wanted to visit in the springtime, to catch the wildflower season. 2026 is predicted to be a "superbloom" year! I wrote two poems -- one a trinet, the other a failed haiku. (Too many syllables!) Thanks so much for reading.

Trinet After Drought

Desert rain,

what winds

blew you across these mountains today?

I wish I could catch you,

carry you

like a

bride's bouquet.

- Irene Latham

Gift

Rain, forever swift of heart,

waits until mountains are sleeping

to ride in on a brisk wind

& surprise desert with flowers

-Irene Latham

p.s. I read somewhere recently (where??) that "swift of heart" doesn't mean "fast." It means "to be fully committed." I love that!!

Live Your Poem...

Afternoon Tea in August poem

Once Upon a Smelly Pup poem

Hide and Seek poem

Just Another (Sun)flower Poem

a blessing for sorrow

dragon cloud haiku

Trinet after an Argument

Everything I Need to Know About Waiting I Learned in the Garden

For what are the bones of summer?

Dinosaur poems!

Girl Finds Power / Learning from Elders poem + Revision Notes

RSVP and other poems about writing letters

On the day I finally decided, Raven was waiting for me

Introducing WORDSPINNERS...and Welcome, Amy Hevron!

coyote sees the world clearly poem

Marie Antoinette poem

An Emily Dickinson Poetry Friday Roundup!

Progressive Poem is Here!

A Polka Dot Poem

I Brake for Butterflies + Giveaway!

Goodreads Book Giveaway

Some Starry Night

by Irene Latham

Stitch (a Picture Book!) Like an Egyptian with Dahlia Hamza Constantine

FRESH

DIFFICULT

DELICIOUS

ANYTHING ELSE

Celebrating TWILIGHT with Marcie Flinchum Atkins!

Poetry + Art = Some Starry Night by Irene Latham

In the Grip of the Ice by Doraine Bennett *GIVEAWAY*

Desert Rain poems

In the Grip of the Ice by Doraine Bennett GIVEAWAY