Poetry Friday: Van Gogh Dreams

Hello, Poetry Friday friends. I haven't seen you in a few weeks. Before I get to this week's poem -- a quick update!I took a blogging break while I was traveling with 17 other children's authors on PJ Library's Author Israel Adventure. It was a life-changing trip, full of new friends, amazing experiences, and lots of learning. I'll tell you more about it in future posts. If you can't wait, there is a great photo essay about our trip in Publisher's Weekly -- written and photographed by children's author Mark Shulman.Because of the trip, I moved this year's February Poetry Project to March. We are a small group this year, with some regulars and some new poets responding to a common poetry prompt every day. If you'd like to join, let me know. This year's theme -- definitely inspired by the incredible Mediterranean cuisine  -- is FOOD. If you'd like to learn more about my annual poetry project, please read this 2016 post.The only other time I have traveled abroad with a group of authors was four years ago. In 2015, about 60 poets/community activists gathered in Salerno, Italy for the 100 Thousand Poets for Change World Conference. That's where I met Lisa Vihos, the poet I'm going to introduce you to today.Lisa Vihos is a Wisconsin poet and editor. Some of her books are the chapbooks This Particular Heaven (Kelsay Press, Kelsay Books, 2017) and Fan Mail from Some Flounder (Main Street Rag Publishing, 2018). Two of the anthologies Lisa compiled and edited are From Everywhere a Little: A Migration Anthology (Water's Edge Press, 2019, co-edited with Dawn Hogue), and the book I'm featuring today: Van Gogh Dreams (HenschelHAUS Publishing, 2018).

Van Gogh Dreams is an apt title for this collection. The book weaves together ekphrastic responses to specific Van Gogh paintings (The Potato Eaters, Sunflowers, Starry Night, for example), poems in Van Gogh's voice, and modern reflections on the artist and what 21st century creatives can learn from him.If you're in the Maryland/DC area, Lisa is coming to visit! She will be the featured author, along with Andria Nacina Cole, at Wilde Readings (the local literary reading series that I co-host). The event is March 12 at the Columbia Art Center, Columbia, MD. We start the open mic at 7 pm. (More info is here.)I'm so excited to see Lisa again. Literary friendships run deep.Here is Lisa Vihos's poem from Van Gogh Dreams.Love Letter for VincentBy Lisa VihosI would have sat quietlywhile you painted the starsand I would not have tossedthe sunflowersbefore you were done with themI would have tendedthe irises, dusted your chair,and made your bed, in lovewith the vibration inside all things --just like you. I would not have judgedthe cut ear or the old sermons.I would have cooked your potatoes,wiped clean your shoes,and bought you another absintheat midnight in the pool hall.I would have brought a picnic lunchand a cool drink to the wheat field.I would have marveled with you at the sunand the patterns the blackbirds madeas they flew low along the horizon.Posted with permission of the author.I love that the cover of Van Gogh Dreams is a work of  art in itself. As Lisa explains in the book's introduction, it is taken from a collage created by her father, artist Georg Vihos.While she's here, Lisa will be recording an episode of the long-running Library of Congress podcast "The Poet and the Poem." The host is Grace Cavalieri, our new state poet laureate of Maryland! I'll share a link when the podcast is available.Do you love Van Gogh's paintings? You might want to check out Vans new Van Gogh fashion line. Yes, Vans the sneaker company. What would Vincent think, I wonder?