My Last Wonderful Swap

      Poetry Friday is hosted today by Matt Forrest Esendwine at Radio, Rhythm & Rhyme who happens to be in the midst of book events at bookstores so he can share his new book, Flashlight Night, illustrated by Fred Koehler. It's not out for a little while, but I've already found it at my library! Thanks, Matt! Celebrate, celebrate!
     And, once again,  we must give support for those fleeing or who must endure the coming new Hurricane Erma. Also, I am saddened by the news of so many fires in the northwest. We in Denver are well aware of those disasters because the smoke has been hovering over the city for days. It's time to step up and help however we can. 

       When one takes time to talk with people, the discoveries can be enlightening and simply wonderful. I just spoke with a cashier with whom I visit often when grocery shopping and discovered today that her grandmother has written an autobiography about her work in Tibet. I know this cashier grew up in Hawaii and migrated to the mainland, but did not know of her rich heritage until this week. I tell you this because the summer swap created by Tabatha Yeatts pushes us to look more closely at those we are sending swaps to, and while reading their posts, examining the words and pictures shared, we learn a little more about them. 

       Except for packages I order and expect, I receive few others. The Summer Poetry Swap gives surprises all summer long. It is a pleasure to create and send to others, but also one to open that mailbox and discover - a package surprise! This final one of the season is from dear Irene Latham, and full of poetic scenes, quotes and poems! She knows that I love to read, and one "guess" yielded a favorite book, Anaya's Bless Me Ultima. I have not read it for a long time, but loved introducing it to my students because at that time there were not many books available that showed the students the richness of other cultures. This gift from Irene is full of my smiles, too! Thank you, Irene!

A sweet postcard note and a view of Mark Twain's house in
Connecticut and a happy quote!

A springtime frame and beautiful prose words about
mothers and Mother Nature.

The book and the poem!

                            Bless Me, Spring

Show me the calligraphy

of your dirt roads across the Llano,

juniper trees spilling ink,

mesquite bushes etching

green poems about Summer's

fire-y kisses soon to come

Give me your yuccas

sheathed in wedding flowers,

your fastest jackrabbit carrying

morning in one ear,

the moon in the other

Teach me the ways of wings,

a feather for every dream,

a nesting place where the body

is broken by dry wind

and the soul feasts on dust

Hold me in your tall grasses,

your slow-shifting beaches

Guide me by the light

of a golden carp so fat with freedom

its syllables ring across decades

Show me a piper with sand in its mouth

and somewhere, past worlds of water,

a mountain lifting itself

from a yellowed parchment valley --

lifting itself

              into a flock of darkbellied clouds

              heavy with hope.

                                     ~ Irene Latham

And to thank Irene with my words:

I Imagine

Your gift of poetry means

words brush-stroking a canvas

in my heart.

I’ll use the ink to write for you,

use the yucca flowers for a coming celebration,

run through the day alongside that jackrabbit

until moonrise

when the dust comes from stars

When I close my eyes --

I’ll dream of flying, swooping

down to touch the bosque

full of nature’s gifts.

                           Linda