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Greetings from the Georgia foothills, Poetry Lovers! As I write this on Thursday, we are 300+ miles from our little coastal home and pondering the best time to head back, watching Florence updates. Our prayers are with all in the path of this and other storms.
Poetry is always good medicine in times of stress. Today I am grateful to Rebecca Kai Dotlich for allowing me to share her beautiful poem from the new anthology by Lee Bennett Hopkins, WORLD MAKE WAY - New Poems Inspired by Art from the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Poetry Friday regulars have no doubt enjoyed peeks into this gorgeous collection, published by Abrams Books for Young Readers in partnership with the Metropolitan Museum of Art. You'll see some familiar Poetry Friday names among contributors, too! (Click here for a wonderful interview with Lee by NPR's Scott Simon, which aired on March 31.)
Rebecca wrote in response to Mary Cassatt's Young Mother Sewing (Oil on canvas, 1900).
Blue Worlds
I grow up in a world the color of water.
Sometimes when breezes blow just right,
when sun puddles in blue folds,
mama talks of blue things, wild things;
sea glass and butterflies,
peacocks and poppies.
While clocks keep perfect time
ships sail on seas yet named,
and birds sing odes to skyight.
Cornflowers turn to tufted stars
while mama threads light rain,
stitching my name
into air.
©Rebecca Kai Dotlich. All rights reserved.
In my corner of the country, as folks react and respond to the power of water unleashed by a storm, I'm comforted by Rebecca's poem. Its water imagery opens doors to wonder and connection, and to this exquisite painting of a tender bond between mother and child.
And, an aside about 'voice': When I first read, excerpted in Lee Bennett Hopkins's foreword, "cornflowers turn to tufted stars," I did not need to see who had written it - I knew that lyrical line must have come from Rebecca's pen. *Swoon*....
To learn more about Rebecca and her work, click here, and click here for the website of Lee Bennett Hopkins.
For the Poetry Friday Roundup, find some high ground and inspiration at The Poem Farm this week with Amy, who just happens to be one of the poets whose work graces the pages of WORLD MAKE WAY!