Calavera skull poem + Book Giveaway!

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

Happy Halloween! Today I am traveling to Highlights for the Poetry Palooza!. Yay! I'm also joining others in our community (Matt! Heidi!) in celebration of a Blogiversary: 20 years!! 

This is post number 2,346!

Newsletter subscribers already know this, but I wanted to be sure and share it here as well: To add to the fun, I'm hosting a book giveaway of a few of my favorite 2025 reads.

I’m offering ONE (US only) winner a book bundle: James by Percival Everett (adult); Knocking on Windows by Jeannine Atkins (YA). The Trouble with Heroes by Kate Messner (MG). Every Monday Mabel by Jashar Awan (PB); and a fresh-in-my-mailbox F&G of For the Win: Poems Celebrating Phenomenal Athletes selected by Irene Latham & Charles Waters (POETRY)! 

Click to enter!

Even if you don't win, you'll get a subscription to my monthly e-mail newsletter. Good luck, and happy reading!!

In other news, The Mistakes That Made Us is a featured title in Lerner's Nonfiction November! Sign up for free!

This week's ArtSpeak: PICASSO features a piece I've been saving for this very day! I mean, what better than a skull poem for Halloween? Though this one did take an unexpected turn at the end! Learn more about calavera (skull poems) here. Thanks so much for reading.

Calavera
by Irene Latham

stubborn bone—
once a box for a brain,
once encased by skin—

empty now,
hollow

you glow–

     a skull is a skull is a skull
     no different
     no less dead

o, determined cottage 

of spirit and song—
shall I fill your windows with fruit?

perhaps you will be
the one to outlast
the internet

Bamahenge + "A Dream of Rabbits" poem

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

I'm just back from a glorious few days with loved ones at the beach. We also visited Bamahenge, a partial full-size replica of Stonehenge in Elberta, Alabama. Cool! Also, new life goal: create something funky and cool and worthy of Atlas Obscura notice. :)

This weeks ArtSpeak: PICASSO features another of his b&w line drawings. I decided to write a trinet. Another resource I visited while writing this poem include this list of movement words...though I ended up using the element of repetition instead!

The poem is titled " A Dream of Rabbits." I've written a few other animal-dream poems:

A Dream of Sheep
What Tiger Dreams
Dream with Three Hearts
I Dream of Roosters

And now for the new one. Thank you so much for reading!

A Dream of Rabbits
by Irene Latham

Rabbits dance
by starlight—
Are they leaping for the Moon,
or kissing the Earth? I'd like
to be
a rabbit
dancing, dancing.

Alabama Safari Park + bison poem

 

Hello and Happy Poetry Friday! Be sure to visit Sarah Grace Tuttle for Roundup.

Last week, as I drove across Alabama for the Book Expo Tour (so much fun connecting with librarians across the state!), I had a few adventures along the way. 

Some of them were challenging (death of car battery), and others were pure joy: visit to Alabama Safari Park, just outside of Montgomery. 

This is a drive-thru safari, and the way it works is, you buy buckets of feed. Well, as you can imagine, these animals are quite accustomed to cars and buckets! 

Some were kind of greedy, yanking the entire bucket from my hands! Others (looking at you, Mr. Llama!) stood in front of my car blocking my path until I offered a snack. 

A few were curious about the (classical) music coming from my car speakers. (See pic at the end of the post!)

 Even though my favorite, the giraffes, were in the barn due to the weather (rain), it was a lot of fun meeting new friends.

AND I guess it inspired this week's ArtSpeak: PICASSO poem. I did have a moment of fear when a young bull came charging toward my car! 

But then, a bit further along the drive, a herd of bison were resting in the grass, paying no attention to me whatsoever. 

So I thought: maybe Picasso's bull needn't be the aggressive type. Maybe a sleepy bison should get a poem, too. 

Thanks so much for reading!

soft-eyed bison

nests in sunshine and spring grass

afternoon nap

- Irene Latham

And here's one more pic....perhaps a poem for another day!

Flit-Fluttering with Butterflies and Arthur Sze

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

It's been a busy week of travel and teaching and revising in the cracks! Life is full, just the way I like it. And I am full of amor mundi (love of the world), which I was reminded of in this article about Jane Goodall. Jane—may she rest in peace—and I have this particular trait in common.

Also, in celebration of our newest (25th) U.S. Poet Laureate Arthur Sze, here's a lovely poem. 

The Shape of Leaves

by Arthur Sze

Ginkgo, cottonwood, pin oak, sweet gum, tulip tree:
our emotions resemble leaves and alive
to their shapes we are nourished.

Have you felt the expanse and contours of grief
along the edges of a big Norway maple?
Have you winced at the orange flare

searing the curves of a curling dogwood?
I have seen from the air logged islands,
each with a network of branching gravel roads,

and felt a moment of pure anger, aspen gold.

click to read the rest of the poem

In answer to Arthur's questions: YES! Trees are the great witnesses, aren't they, to all our human-ness. I have my tree-friends for sure.

This week's Artspeak: PICASSO also speaks of trees...and those hopeful yellow butterflies that frequent the Alabama air in August. Thanks so much for reading!

yellow butterfly

gives flit-fluttering lessons

to August birch leaves

- Irene Latham

SOME STARRY NIGHT, my first novel for adults, coming in 2026!

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

It's October, aka my most favorite month! There's a lot going on, including Mother Nature's regular October show, which I adore. 

AND I'm excited to share about my debut historical fiction novel for adults, Some Starry Night, coming from Historium Press in 2026!

Some Starry Night imagines the story behind Vincent van Gogh's most famous painting, Starry Night, and the secret love affair with American poet Emily Dickinson that inspired it.

So...it's a marriage of two of my favorite things: poetry & art! And LOVE. Always, always love. 

Y'all I had SO MUCH FUN writing this book. I'll be sharing more about this very soon!

Next week, I'll be on tour with the Alabama Library Expo, traveling across the state of Alabama from south to north, stopping in a different city each day. My presentation focuses on "backyard history," so I'll be talking about my historical fiction titles, particularly the ones with Alabama ties, like Leaving Gee's Bend, Meet Miss Fancy, and African Town (co-written with Charles Waters). I'm super-excited to share this time with Alabama educators!

For this week's ArtSpeak: PICASSO, I've selected one of his animal line drawings, which I love! Somehow I missed writing after this particular one back in 2022 during my ArtSpeak: Animals year. 

I love these pieces! How satisfying might it be to be able to say I've written poems after all 24 drawings in this series? And what better time than now, during my Picasso year, to add some more poems to my tally? (I think this is number 15!) Thanks so much for reading.

the whisper of grass

as mouse disappears in hole

winter is coming

- Irene Latham

Three 2025 Children's Poetry Books + Love Poem

 Hello and Happy Poetry. Friday! Be sure to visit Amy at The Poem Farm for Roundup.

Today I'm excited to share three new children's poetry books with you!

But first, a shout-out to Jonathan Humble at The Dirigible Balloon, who selected three of my poems for his "Imagine the Future" issue. I mean, what a gift his website is! Click to read and listen to my offerings, then stick around to meet some other new poem-friends.

"untitled haiku" 

"Someday" 

"The Clearing" 

Now about those new children's poetry books!

In the science/nature/informational poetry category, I give you Rings of Heartwood: Poems on Growing by Molly Beth Griffin, illus. by Claudia McGehee (Minnesota Historical Press).

First: shout-out to Claudia: I love this art SO MUCH. You may remember Claudia also illustrated Counting Winter, which I blogged about earlier this year. And now another poetry collaboration!

The book features 12 poems about growing things: tree, wood ducklings, snail, etc. and included detailed sidebars and fun facts.

I love the frog/tadpole poem "Trade," which opens with the very relatable "Nobody asked me/ if I'd like to trade / my tail for legs / my gills for lungs."

The Monarch butterfly poem is titled " A Work in Progress." Aren't we all??

I also love the cicada poem "My Outside Voice" which ends with "I'll sing you the story of what I've tunneled through/ to get here."

But perhaps my favorite favorite is "My Whole Self" about a snake looking back after shedding its skin. "I sliver away, / new and bright and shining./ I start over, / comfortable in my skin.

In the SEL/mindfulness poetry category, here's The Gift of a Broken Teacup: Poems of Mindfulness, Meditation, and Me by Allan Wolf, illus. by Jade Orlando (Candlewick Press).

This is a big book that covers a lot of ground. It reminded me of Score! 50 Poems to Motivate and Inspire by Charles Ghigna, illus. by Julia Gorton and Twist: Yoga Poems by Janet Wong, illus. by Julie Paschkis. Allan gives readers words like integrity, indomitable, and inconsequential. And yay for Allan bringing to kids Whitman's "Yawp!" My favorite line comes from the poem "I Write Myself Down!" The second stanza ends with " I write myself to life." YES!

In the Joyce Sidman category, here's her latest, Dear Acorn (Love Oak): Letter Poems to Friends by Joyce Sidman, illus. by Melissa Sweet (Clarion Books).

Joyce and I met in person back in 2016—wow, that feels like another lifetime! Click to see the pic.

This book is joyously illustrated, and I love that the poems are presented in pairs: oak, acorn; pebble, river; button, coat. And then you have the next layer: Big-small opposites. (I love when a poetry book has multiple layers!) Finally, the poems are all letters—and Joyce offers some advice at the end about how to write letter poems. I especially love the pairings that have really distinctly different voices, like Coat and Button! "Button:" (from Coat) might be my most favorite poem of all.

The final poem "To All My Creatures—" (from the Ocean) reminds me of the first poem I had published in the children's market, with a quite similar first line: "Ship Spies a Light" by Irene Latham.  Joyce's poem ends with this stanza:

Dear ones, we belong together, /swirling and teeming, travelers all./ For smaller things add up to big,/ and all things big are made of small."

Lovely, yes?

Today's ArtSpeak: PICASSO features a portrait of another one of Picasso's mistresses: Marie-Therese Walker. Marie-Therese was known as Picasso's "Golden Muse," and their affair was long-lived. It began will Picasso was married and continued after Picasso's wife left (but didn't divorce) him and while he was concurrently having an affair with Dora Maar. What a mess, right? 

By Marie-Therese's own report, their relationship was one of calm and quiet...and Picasso does portray her in that way. However, Marie-Therese eventually committed suicide, so who really knows?? Was there hidden violence? Was it love, lust, comfort, passion? I don't pretend to know. But it did bring forth a Golden Shovel love poem of the bittersweet variety, for which I am grateful. Thanks so much for reading!

Love Poem

"You are the sky. Everything else—it’s just the weather." —Pema Chödrön

When I think of you

now, I forget what birds are,

their wings become the

clouds feathering a wintry sky.

I remember song is everything:

touch, taste, memory. All else

is noise. Even if the world says it's —

over, I'll look for you—Just

me, waiting out the weather.

- Irene Latham

Things You Can't Take from Me poem

 Hello and Happy Poetry Friday! Be sure to visit Jama's Alphabet Soup for what's sure to be a delicious Roundup.

Attention Picture Book writers! There's an incredible retreat happening in January with an outstanding faculty including R. Gregory Christie, Sally M. Kim, Melissa Manlove, Katrina Moore, and the unstoppable Lola M. Schaefer! It's called New Year, Renewed in Writing. I wish I could attend, but DH and I have our annual trip to the Florida Keys in January. Fingers crossed the timing works with YOUR schedule.

So, I've been going through some difficult stuff lately—an old business partnership dissolving. I was "done dirty," and the best thing, the only thing to do was cut ties and move on. 

No doubt it's from that space where this week's ArtSpeak: PICASSO poem started. The portrait is of one of Picasso's mistresses, Dora Maar. Picasso sees what he sees, but what's she thinking, really? She may be sad, but she also looks like a woman who may be thinking of ways to save herself.

You Can't Take from Me

you can't take from me

the mountains

you can't take from me

the breeze swaying pines

and when the sky

fills with proclamations—

impossible! impossible!

you can't take from me

that ripening voice inside

murmuring 

                      maybe

- Irene Latham

peonies haiku poem

 Hello and Happy Poetry Friday! Be sure to visit Rose at Imagine the Possibilities for Roundup.

I've got a peony poem for your today! (Very fitting, with Roundup at Rose's blog!) At first glance, I thought: I totally should have written after this piece during spring. 

But why write a poem about peonies when they are blooming? 

It's now, when the stalks are withering, that's got me thinking about what they mean and how flowers have the power to connect us to loved ones long gone...my grandma Dykes particularly comes to mind.

Also, it's a big birthday month in my family: My mother's birthday was earlier this week, and today is our oldest son's 31st birthday. Happy birthday, Daniel! There are others, too...and my father's birthday is the 17th. He would have been 79.  

For all those reasons, September feels like the perfect time to write a peony poem. Thanks so much for reading.

fluffy peonies

cozy the last unbroken vase

I remember you

- Irene Latham

p.s. Here are three websites I visited while crafting my poem:

a collection of Japanese peony poems

all about peonies

words to describe vases

another frog haiku

 Hello and Happy Poetry Friday! Be sure to visit Margaret at Reflections on the Teche for Roundup.

ICYMI: The good humans over at DiverseVerse hosted a cover reveal for For the Win: Poems About Phenomenal Athletes, selected by Irene Latham and Charles Waters, coming March 3, 2026 from Lerner Publishing. Each of these poems highlights a moment in the life of a contemporary athlete, from growing up to setbacks to successes to legacies and more! And we worked with quite a few new-to-us poets, and we can't wait for you to get to know their work!

Also: this is early, but NCTE has been on my mind this week, as my plans for Denver are firming up. If you, too, will be attending the conference, please come to the Poetry Peeps Meet-Up!

I woke up wanting to write a haiku—no doubt because I am updating my haiku workshop slides. :) I was thinking about the brilliance of the famous frog/old pond haiku by Basho, and had been reading this article that shares five different ways the poem has been translated. 

So I browsed the National Gallery of Art's Picasso collection, looking for something haiku-worthy, and lo, a frog!

 I downloaded the image and started thinking about what sense other than sound I might focus on...which led me down some frog holes, but then I thought: how can I play with sound, but differently than Basho? That led me to this article about frog sounds.

However, I was most captivated by Picasso's rendering of the leaping frog's wild eyes. I pondered: What's this frog feeling, thinking?

Eventually I landed in silence, which feels like the perfect place for an introverted poet. :)

raucous spring pond

frog croaks too much, too much

dives into silence

- Irene Latham

Click here for another (hopeful, singing) frog haiku I wrote during ArtSpeak: ANIMALS. Thanks so much for reading!

Music Theory poem

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

This week's ArtSpeak: PICASSO is on the subject of music—No doubt because I attended my annual adult strings weekend last weekend. :)

The power of music has been well documented. I love how music connects us—and as a musician in an ensemble, I love how every musician matters, yet we are at our best when we are indistinguishable from one another. The whole goal is one-ness. Which means letting go of ego, disappearing into the beautiful ether. Lovely, yes? Thanks so much for reading!

Music Theory

we are in pieces

our bodies
harbor oceans

music bleeds
through our skin
like starlight

each note
cleaving us
together        apart

together again

 - Irene Latham

Something Like Loyalty poem

 Hello and Happy Poetry Friday! Be sure to visit Carol at Beyond LiteracyLink for Roundup.

Happy news: I received my Alabama Master Naturalist certificate in the mail. Yay! It took me nearly two years to complete the program. The lectures and tests were the easy part; what slowed me down was the volunteer hours and the required field days, which were challenging to fit into my schedule! But I did it! And I learned so much along the way, like:

Alabama ranks 5th in the country for species biodiversity.  States 1-5 in order: California, Texas, Arizona, New Mexico, Alabama!

Alabama is the Turtle Capitol of the World. (We have more turtle species in Alabama than any other place.)

I visited the historic iron ore mining shafts and labor-of-love native garden at Red Mountain Park, and I helped conduct water testing after salamander-searching in a stream atop Mt. Cheaha State Park.

I also added to my Must Go There (Alabama) list, so more on this soon!

MORE happy news: this weekend marks my annual pilgrimage to the University of Alabama (Tuscaloosa) to participate and perform with the Adult String Orchestra! Great folks, lots of learning, and making music, which is, more than anything, JOY.

Today's ArtSpeak: PICASSO is on the topic of loyalty, about which there is some debate. Is it a virtue? A sentiment? An action? Click here to learn what philosophers are discussing!

To learn more about this particular painting, click here. (I don't know if Picasso intended a beach scene, but that's where I went with it!)

Also: I could keep tinkering with these words and lines FOREVER! (I was revising as I was creating the graphic...will return to it when I have more time!) Thanks so much for reading.

Something Like Loyalty

sky & blue

eyes & ocean

salt & whisper

mouth & wet

dog & boy

- Irene Latham

Poem for a Grumpy Goat on a Hot Summer's Day

 Hello and Happy Poetry Friday! Be sure to visit Margaret from Reflections on the Teche for Roundup.

Today's ArtSpeak: PICASSO features a goat. Not a painting of a goat, but a sculpture. 

Who knew Picasso made any sculptures?? Well, he did, and this is one that caught my eye.

It's not my first time to write a poem about a goat. 

Little Goat Pantoum

Wild Goats

Goats are part of my DNA! Some of my most vivid childhood memories—from the time we lived in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia—feature goats. Goats in the road. Goats on top of the cars. Chasing goats. Feeding goats. Petting goats. Napping with goats! 

When I started writing this poem, I set out to write a tricube. But this poem was being very grumpy and did not comply! (You will find quite a few 3-syllable lines remain!)  And once I got to the stopping point of my poem, I read it back, and realized I was (again) writing to myself. I don't like heat. It makes me grumpy! So this poem is really me trying to remind myself life's too short to be grumpy, no matter how hot it is! Thanks so much for reading.

Poem for a Grumpy Goat on a Hot Summer's Day

Hello, goat
my grumpy
little goat.

Sun's here
to warm you.
Rain makes
grass grow
silky-green.

That wind?
Oh, silly goat.

It only wants
to blow you
open.

- Irene Latham

European Goldfinch poem

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

Earlier this week, I shared about my 50-ish years as a writer over at Smack Dab in a post titled Reflection: A Writer's Journey. Spoiler: the 2020 shutdowns had a huge impact on my writing life, and I'm so glad!

This week's ArtSpeak: PICASSO features a bird. I wasn't sure what kind of bird it was, as Picasso didn't title it. But thanks to ye old internet, I soon identified it as a European Goldfinch. 

I know we have birders in our Poetry Friday community...anyone ever seen this one in real life?? Please share in comments!

European Goldfinch

by Irene Latham

hello you delicious little

banana split bird

you perch all chocolatey-vanilla

wings flashing yellow

a sprinkle of nuts

a drizzle of caramel

and that sweet cherry face

you set my tongue

my heart

my whole body atwitter-trilling

Knocking on Windows by Jeannine Atkins

 

me & Jeannine (2012)

Hello and Happy Poetry Friday! Be sure to visit Jane at Raincity Librarian for Roundup.

Today I'm delighted to welcome Jeannine Atkins to Live Your Poem! Jeannine and I go wayyyy back. We've shared time together in Maine, Georgia, Massachusetts, and most recently, NCTE-Philadelphia. 

The first book of hers I absolutely fell in love with was Borrowed Names: Poems About Laura Ingalls Wilder, Madam C.J. Walker, Marie Curie, and Their Daughters (Henry Holt, 2010).

I've learned so much from Jeannine, and not just about writing! She is wise and kind and funny, and she never forgets that poetry is meant to be beautiful. (Also: Jeannine taught be you can add joy to a hotel room with FLOWERS. Who cares if they're in a paper cup?!) Every time I read one of her books, I fill my inspiration journal with beautiful words and ideas that carry me. 

So, when Jeannine told me her verse memoir was coming, I asked her to send me an ARC as soon as possible! And y'all, it's powerful.

Knocking on Windows by Jeannine Atkins (Atheneum, Aug. 5, 2025)

Publisher's description:

Acclaimed author Jeannine Atkins revisits her past in this “brave, searing” (Publishers Weekly, starred review) memoir-in-verse about memory, healing, and finding her voice as a writer, perfect for fans of Amber Smith and Speak.

Night darkens the window to mirror.
I’m back in my old bedroom.

Six weeks after the start of her freshman year of college, Jeannine Atkins finds herself back in her childhood bedroom after an unimaginable trauma. Now home in Massachusetts, she’s struggling to reclaim her life and her voice. Seeking comfort in the words of women, she turns to the lives and stories of Sylvia Plath, Maya Angelou, and Emily Dickinson. Through raw and poignant letter-poems addressed to these literary giants, Jeannine finds that the process of writing and reflecting has become not only a means of survival but the catalyst for a burgeoning writing career.

Inspired and ready to move forward, she enrolls in her state university, where she feeds her growing passion for writing in fiction seminars. But she finds that she’s unable to escape the pervasive misogyny of her classmates and professors, who challenge her to assert her own voice against a backdrop of disbelief and minimalization. This time, though, Jeannine is not willing to go down without a fight.

A searingly honest memoir told through gorgeous verse, Knocking on Windows stands as a beacon of hope and a celebration of the enduring spirit of survivors of sexual assault—and of writers.

---

To give you a taste, here are a few passages I recorded in my journal:

True, death would change little.

Still, something bristles inside me, waking, alive.

It isn't murder or gallantry I want,

but the gift that there are more ways to end my story.

--

But snowstorms keep me from classes.

And a yellow caution light that seems

to blink through my belly and breath.

-- 

History won't stay silent and still.

History twists out of hiding from unraveling bindings,

forgotten letters, delicate spills across margins,

a change in light making visible what was there all along.

--

Anger is a half-hidden safety pin.

--

Memory isn't enough. Art wants transformation.

--

Like ghosts, poems don't have true ends.

Beautiful, yes?!

And now please welcome Jeannine, as she responds to a few prompts as they relate to her experience writing Knocking on Windows.



FRESH:

Jeannine Atkins: I was inspired by memoirs in verse by Nikki Grimes, Jacqueline Woodson, Margarita Engle, Laurie Halse Anderson, Ann Turner, and Marilyn Nelson. These women used lyrical language and narrative in fresh ways to address, often at a slant, past experiences of love or violence. The intimate format made me feel safe as I faced the past, which allowed me to find new versions of old stories. I discovered connections that broke chronology, the way metaphors can, and basked in light that fell between remembered scenes.


DELICIOUS:

Jeannine Atkins: When I tell people that this memoir pays homage to poets and writers who shaped me, some assume the book might be a long love letter. But homage can be complicated. While I loved Sylvia Plath wizardly ways with language, I was uncomfortable with some of her metaphors. Her commitment to poetry made her a role model, but I’ve cringed at descriptions of the boys and men she dated and the poet she married. Reading of suicide can make us feel forsaken, but I tried to reach for understanding. In every life, there’s so much we’ll never know.


DIFFICULT:

Jeannine Atkins: It wasn’t easy to look back at recovery from violence, but returning to the eighteen-year-old who I’d long thought of as troubled, I found more respect for her than shame. We’re all asked to carry pain, and I hope readers can see that while time and places vary, deep down where it matters, none of us are alone.


ANYTHING ELSE:

Jeannine Atkins: In Knocking on Windows I wrote letter-poems to Emily Dickinson, Sylvia Plath, and Maya Angelou, poets who meant a lot to me at eighteen and continue to widen my world with each fresh reading. I hope the poems speak as letters to readers, too, inviting us all to read and write together. As I said in the memoir, “To write is to find the courage to claim that we matter." We can do this.

---

Thank you, Jeannine! And readers, be sure to check out Jeannine's backlist to meet other courageous women...and if you want a new friend for your writing life, don't miss View from a Window Seat: Thoughts on Writing and Life. It's one of my favorites, and I return to it often.

Now, for this week's ArtSpeak: PICASSO. In honor of Jeannine's visit, I selected a piece that features a window...and is about writing.

Turns out Picasso had a thing for windows! Read more about how windows influenced Picasso's art here. Thanks so much for reading!

Viewpoint:
Writing
in Winter

outside,
a winter
lullaby

inside,
a storm
dazzles
the page
awake

- Irene Latham