Day 4 of the 2018 Kidlitosphere Progressive Poem

Happy National Poetry Month!

Since April's ditty challenge won't be revealed until Friday, I'm sneaking in one of my favorite National Poetry Month activities before things get too topsy-turvy around here.

Welcome to Day 4 of the 2018 Kidlitosphere Progressive Poem! 

This is the fifth year I've participated in this annual event—the brain child of poet and novelist Irene Latham. The Progressive Poem has always been one of my favorite National Poetry Month activities because it's exciting, spontaneous, fun, and because it's a community writing experience. From April 1-30, a poem travels from blog to blog, each host adding a new line daily, allowing the poem to take on a life of its own. The results are always richly layered, with a piece of every poet who takes part and the collected anticipation of everyone who has been following its journey.

If you read Heidi Mordhorst's discussion with Irene Latham and Elizabeth Steinglass about the history of the Progressive Poem, you'll know that a small twist was suggested for this year's contributors. In addition to describing our thought process for coming up with the next line, they would like us to record our initial impressions of the first line. When it's our turn to add a line, we should speak to how the trajectory of the poem, and our expectations, have adjusted over time.

Nestled in her cozy bed, a seed stretched.

What struck me right away when I read Liz's opening line were the feelings of comfort and coziness, and the relaxed way the words lolled on my tongue. The line has a lovely sense of musicality, but the rhythm is not predictable like you might expect from a rhyming poem—this will likely end up being a free verse poem. I also love the personification. It opens up all sorts of possibilities about who or what this seed could be. It might be a flower in a spring garden, but it could also be a child, a seed of an idea, a seed of a poem... perhaps some combination of all of the above!

The next two lines take us away from the action of waking up, and the anticipation of *doing* something else. Instead, it seems this little seed is not a morning person and would like to stay in her dreaming reverie a while longer.

Oh, what wonderful dreams she had had!
Blooming in midnight moonlight, dancing with 

Although one might think that Laura Purdie Salas handed me a gift, giving me clear direction for the next line, I actually found it to be more of a challenge. I wasn't ready to introduce a new character yet, so I needed to to find a line that would accommodate her lead-in as well as my own feelings about what information I want to provide to move the poem forward.

While I didn't want this dream recollection to become a distraction and go on for too long, I also didn't want to cut the dream state off too abruptly. (No one likes to be woken that way!)  As I saw it, my task was to complete Laura's thought from line 3 and maybe also focus on WHO this character is. If she's dreaming of blooming at midnight, one might presume she's hard-wired to be a night blooming flower. Not a gardener myself, I turned to Google.

There are several night blooming varieties to choose from, all with distinctive characteristics. I wanted to choose one with a personality that matched the feeling I get from this character—small like a child, sweet and fragrant, filled with wonder. I also thought about that "midnight moonlight" which led me to imagine a sky filled with stars. Given her excitement about dreams, I think our character would be star-wisher, so why not have those stars be physically represented as well? That's why I chose night blooming jasmine. Plus Jasmine is a girl's name. Bonus!

Nestled in her cozy bed, a seed stretched.
Oh, what wonderful dreams she had had!
Blooming in midnight moonlight, dancing with
the pulse of a thousand stars, sweet Jasmine

Night Blooming Jasmine, photo by Eran Finkle

Although I might like to have more of a say about what happens next (wouldn't we all?), my time is up. Jan Godown Annino now holds the magic wand at Bookseedstudio.


April

1 Liz at Elizabeth Steinglass

2 Jane at Raincity Librarian

3 Laura at Writing the World for Kids

4 Michelle at Today’s Little Ditty

5 Jan at bookseedstudio

6 Irene at Live Your Poem

7 Linda at TeacherDance

8 Janet F. at Live Your Poem

9 Ramona at Pleasures from the Page

10 Matt at Radio, Rhythm and Rhyme

11 Brenda at Friendly Fairy Tales

12 Carol at Beyond LiteracyLink

13 Linda at A Word Edgewise

14 Heidi at my juicy little universe

15 Donna at Mainely Write

16 Sarah at Sarah Grace Tuttle

17 Ruth at There is no such thing as a Godforsaken town

18 Christie at Wondering and Wandering

19 Michelle at Michelle Kogan

20 Linda at Write Time

21 April at Teaching Authors

22 Tabatha at The Opposite of Indifference

23 Amy at The Poem Farm

24 Mary Lee at A Year of Reading

25 Kiesha at Whispers from the Ridge

26 Renee at No Water River

27 Buffy at Buffy’s Blog

28 Kat at Kat’s Whiskers

29 Robyn at Life on the Deckle Edge

30 Doraine at Dori Reads

If you enjoyed this post about the Progressive Poem, you'll probably like many of the other kidlit events taking place during National Poetry Month as well. Peruse the Kidlit Events Roundup at Jama's Alphabet Soup.

Day 4 of the 2017 Kidlitosphere Progressive Poem

One of my favorite National Poetry Month activities is Irene Latham's annual Progressive Poem.  It's exciting, spontaneous, fun, and because it's a community writing experience, it takes on a life of its own. From April 1-30, a poem travels from blog to blog, each host adding a new line daily. The results are always richly layered, with a piece of every poet who takes part and the collected anticipation of everyone who has been following its journey.

This is the fourth year I've participated in the Progressive Poem. (You can read previous years' poems HERE.) I've contributed lines at the end and in the middle, so it's a treat to be near the beginning where I can help set the poem's direction. That said, it didn't occur to me when I signed up for Day 4 that I would need to make an important decision. It's my choice whether or not to establish a traditional pattern of rhyming quatrains. Our goal this year is a children's poem and many children's poems do take on that structure, but personally, I prefer when the progressive poem does not. Not all participating poets are comfortable with rhyme so why take on the extra constraint? Besides, judging by these first three lines, we don't need it.

I'm fidget, friction, ragged edges— 
I sprout stories that frazzle-dazzle,
stories of castles, of fires that crackle

Making use of alliteration, assonance, consonance and slant rhyme, this poem has plenty of interest and kid-appeal already! Of course things might change later on, but for now, why box ourselves in unnecessarily? Plus, I think the lack of a predictable rhyme scheme reflects the agitation of our speaker.

My objectives for line 4 were to keep up the playful language, continue channeling the speaker's restless energy into imagination, and reinforce the story themes introduced in line 3.

I'm fidget, friction, ragged edges—
I sprout stories that frazzle-dazzle,
stories of castles, of fires that crackle,
with dragonwords that smoke and sizzle.

Visit Diane Mayr tomorrow to see where she takes the poem next!


April

1 Heidi at my juicy little universe
2 Tabatha at The Opposite of Indifference
3 Doraine at Dori Reads
4 Michelle at Today's Little Ditty
5 Diane at Random Noodling
6 Kat at Kat's Whiskers
7 Irene at Live Your Poem
8 Mary Lee at A Year of Reading
9 Linda at TeacherDance
10 Penny at blog-a- penny-and- her-jots
11 Ramona at Pleasures from the Page
12 Janet F. at Live Your Poem
13 Margaret at Reflections on the Teche
14 Jan at Bookseedstudio
15 Brenda at Friendly Fairy Tales
16 Joy at Poetry for Kids Joy
17 Tricia at The Miss Rumphius Effect
18 Buffy at Buffy's Blog
19 Pat at Writer on a Horse
20 BJ at Blue Window
21 Donna at Mainely Write
22 Jone at Jone Ruch MacCulloch
23 Ruth at There's No Such Thing as a Godforsaken Town
24 Amy at The Poem Farm
25 Robyn at Life on the Deckle Edge
26 Renee at No Water River
27 Matt at Radio, Rhythm and Rhyme
28 Michelle at Michelle Kogan
29 Charles at Poetry Time
30 Laura Purdie Salas at Writing the World for Kids

If you're looking for other creative ways to celebrate National Poetry Month, Jama Rattigan is your go-to for NPM festivites at Alphabet Soup.

Today is the final day to leave a comment for your chance to win Helen Frost's new verse novel, When My Sister Started Kissing (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2017). Click here to do so, then come back this Friday to see if you've won!

Day 12 of the 2016 Kidlitosphere Progressive Poem

We interrupt our regularly scheduled program of daily ditties to take part in one of my favorite activities of National Poetry Month— Irene Latham's annual Progressive Poem.  It's exciting, spontaneous, fun, and because it's a community writing experience, it takes on a life of its own. From April 1-30, a poem travels from blog to blog, each host adding a new line daily. The results are always richly layered, with a piece of every poet who takes part and the collected anticipation of everyone who has been following its journey. It's a beautiful thing.

When I saw my turn coming down the pike, I thought, this won't be too hard– the first two lines of each stanza are about things in nature the narrator sees, the third line presents an imaginary setting, and the fourth line celebrates the imagination.  I'm a fourth line– easy peasy.  Here are the first ten lines, following that pattern:

A squall of hawk wings stirs the sky
A hummingbird holds and then hies
If I could fly, I’d choose to be
Sailing through a forest of poet-trees

A cast of crabs engraves the sand
Delighting a child’s outstretched hand
If I could breathe under the sea
I’d dive, I’d dip, I’d dance with glee

A clump of crocuses crave the sun
Kites soar while joyful dogs run

But then... leave it to Buffy to present me with a transition. Actually, to be fair, I agree with her decision. I felt it was time for a change. And she's presented the transition masterfully since the change is very subtle. Here's Buffy's line:

I sing to spring, to budding green

By using "I" instead of "if," Buffy places the narrator in the here and now, yet she doesn't abandon the imagination altogether. The "budding green" is something we can see in nature, yes, but the magic seems to happen spontaneously. It's not as obvious as spying a bird or a crab, or even a clump of crocuses.

My job is to complete Buffy's transition. I want to give the narrator an awareness of the difference between reality and imagination while carrying over that same sense of wonder and celebration. So here's what we've got so far with my line added at the end:

A squall of hawk wings stirs the sky.
A hummingbird holds and then hies.
If I could fly, I’d choose to be
Sailing through a forest of poet-trees.

A cast of crabs engraves the sand
Delighting a child’s outstretched hand.
If I could breathe under the sea,
I’d dive, I’d dip, I’d dance with glee.

A clump of crocuses crave the sun.
Kites soar while joyful dogs run.
I sing to spring, to budding green,
to all of life— seen and unseen.

Who knows where Linda Baie is going to take this poem next, but I do know she's up to the challenge! It's all yours, Linda.

Follow along with the 2016 Kidlitosphere Progressive Poem:

1 Laura at Writing the World for Kids

2 Joy at Joy Acey

3 Doraine at Dori Reads

4 Diane at Random Noodling

5 Penny at A Penny and Her Jots

6 Carol at Beyond LiteracyLink

7 Liz at Elizabeth Steinglass

8 Janet F. at Live Your Poem

9 Margaret at Reflections on the Teche

10 Pat at Writer on a Horse

11 Buffy at Buffy’s Blog

12 Michelle at Today’s Little Ditty

13 Linda at TeacherDance

14 Jone at Deo Writer

15 Matt at Radio, Rhythm and Rhyme

16 Violet at Violet Nesdoly

17 Kim at Flukeprints

18 Irene at Live Your Poem

19 Charles at Poetry Time

20 Ruth at There is No Such Thing as a Godforsaken Town

21 Jan at Bookseedstudio

22 Robyn at Life on the Deckle Edge

23 Ramona at Pleasures from the Page

24 Amy at The Poem Farm

25 Mark at Jackett Writes

26 Renee at No Water River

27 Mary Lee at Poetrepository

28 Heidi at My Juicy Little Universe

29 Sheila at Sheila Renfro

30 Donna at Mainely Write

See you here this Friday for the Poetry Friday roundup!

Day 10 of the Progressive Poem, plus a surprise clerihew!

For me, one of the best parts of National Poetry Month is taking part in Irene Latham's annual Progressive Poem.  It's exciting, spontaneous, fun, and because it's a community writing experience, it takes on a life of its own. From April 1-30, a poem travels from blog to blog, each host adding a new line daily. The results are always richly layered, with a piece of every poet who takes part and the collected anticipation of everyone who has been following its journey. It's a beautiful thing.

So today it's my turn. But before I dive in, I hope you'll indulge me as I take a moment to share a surprise clerihew I received this week: 

Michelle Heidenrich Barnes loves children's poetry
at Today's Little Ditty you can read it for free.
It's where she posts challenges, and if you hustle
you'll be able to stretch your poetry muscle.

© 2015 Joy Acey. All rights reserved.

Hello! This totally made my day!

In case you missed my interview with Kwame Alexander last Friday, the DMC challenge he's chosen for April is to choose a celebrity and write a clerihew.

Besides this fine example (Thank you, Joy!), I've featured ditties this week from Linda Baie, Charles Waters, and Angie Karcher. Hope I get to read yours!


Now, speaking of stretching my poetry muscle...

What to do with a delta girl who strokes her grandmother's turquoise bracelet and magically transforms into a mermaid?!!  I'm not sure. But I will tell you that with our departure into mermaid sensibility, I'm loving Jone MacCulloch's opening phrase, "she lives without a net," more than ever.

What kind of magic is this?

No clue. 

 Where did it come from?

Aha! Here we go....

She lives without a net, walking along the alluvium of the delta.
Shoes swing over her shoulder, on her bare feet stick jeweled flecks of dark mica. 

Hands faster than fish swing at the ends of bare brown arms. Her hair flows,
snows in wild wind as she digs in the indigo varnished handbag, 

pulls out her grandmother's oval cuffed bracelet,
strokes the turquoise stones, and steps through the curved doorway.

Tripping on her tail she slips hair first down the slide... splash!
She glides past glossy water hyacinth to shimmer with a school of shad,

listens to the ibises roosting in the trees of the cypress swamp–
an echo of Grandmother's words, still fresh in her windswept memory.


Next stop: Flukeprints.  Carry on, Kim....

2015 Kidlitosphere

Progressive Poem

1 Jone at Check it Out

2 Joy at Poetry for Kids Joy

3 Heidi at My Juicy Little Universe

4 Laura at Writing the World for Kids

5 Charles at Poetry Time Blog

6 Ramona at Pleasures from the Page

7 Catherine at Catherine Johnson

8 Irene at Live Your Poem

9 MaryLee at Poetrepository

10 Michelle at Today's Little Ditty

11 Kim at Flukeprints

12 Margaret at Reflections on the Teche

13 Doraine at DoriReads

14 Renee at No Water River

15 Robyn at Life on the Deckle Edge

16 Ruth at There is No Such Thing as a Godforsaken Town

17 Buffy at Buffy's Blog

18 Sheila at Sheila Renfro

19 Linda at Teacher Dance

20 Penny at A Penny and her Jots

21 Tara at A Teaching Life

22 Pat at Writer on a Horse

23 Tamera at The Writer's Whimsy

24 Tricia at The Miss Rumphius Effect

25 Tabatha at The Opposite of indifference

26 Brian at Walk the Walk

27 Jan at Bookseedstudio

28 Amy at The Poem Farm

29 Donna at Mainely Write

30 Matt at Radio, Rhythm & Rhyme

Today's Poetry Friday roundup is being hosted by Laura Purdie Salas at Writing the World for Kids. Laura has been providing helpful tips for teachers each day during National Poetry Month.

If you're looking for other creative ways to celebrate National Poetry Month, Jama Rattigan is your go-to for NPM festivites at Alphabet Soup.

Progressive Poem, Day 25

I feel privileged to be hosting Irene Latham's 2014 Kidlitosphere Progressive Poem on the final Poetry Friday of National Poetry Month.  

This poem has traveled quite a distance over the last 24 days– visiting 24 unique blogs with 24 unique poetic sensibilities, each coming together to add a new line.  And now it's in my pocket... literally.  As I write this on Poem in Your Pocket Day, I've been carrying it around with me on my daily rounds– hemming and hawing, pondering and planning, imagining and envisioning what might come next.  This poem is precious cargo, not only because of the beautiful words and imagery contained, but because it carries a piece of every poet who has come before me as well as the collected anticipation of everyone who has been following its journey.  That's a lot of pressure, but I've been looking forward to this challenge since Day 1.

Linda Baie at TeacherDance provided me with an intriguing line to use as a jump off point.  So many possibilities hidden in those shifting shadows!  Who's there?  Is it friend or foe? A beast or bird stowaway perhaps?  The winging words of the wind?  Whispering dreams?  Irene, come to offer more advice?  Or maybe it's a less-than-trustworthy merry hen demanding her eggs back?  As much as I'd  like to bask in the delicious mystery a while longer, this poem must find closure in five days, so I've decided to cut to the chase.  It's taken an awful long time for our traveler to get underway, and I would like to make sure we arrive at some kind of destination or resolution– if not physically, than at least mentally.  To me, the coast still seems far off, but the host?  Hmmm... well, you know what they say:  

If Mohammed won't make it to the coast, then the host must come to Mohammed.  

What, you mean that's not how the proverb goes?


2014 Kidlitosphere Progressive Poem

Sitting on a rock, airing out my feelings to the universe
Acting like a peacock, only making matters that much worse;
Should I trumpet like an elephant emoting to the moon,
Or just ignore the warnings written in the rune?
Those stars can’t seal my future; it’s not inscribed in stone.
The possibilities are endless! Who could have known?
Gathering courage, spiral like an eagle after prey
Then gird my wings for whirlwind gales in realms far, far away.
But, hold it! Let’s get practical! What’s needed before I go?
Time to be tactical— I’ll ask my friends what I should stow.
And in one breath, a honeyed word whispered low— dreams —
Whose voice? I turned to see. I was shocked. Irene’s!
“Each voyage starts with tattered maps; your dreams dance on this page.
Determine these dreams—then breathe them! Engage your inner sage.”
The merry hen said, “Take my sapphire eggs to charm your host.”
I tuck them close – still warm – then take my first step toward the coast
This journey will not make me rich, and yet I long to be
like luminescent jellyfish, awash in mystery.
I turn and whisper, “Won’t you come?” to all the beasts and birds,
and listen while they scamper, their answers winging words:
“Take these steps alone to start; each journey is an art.
You are your own best company. Now it's time to depart!"
I blow a kiss. I hike for days, blue eggs pressed to my chest.
One evening's rest, campfire low, shifting shadows brought a guest.
A boy, with hair in wild waves and eyes blue as the sea,

Tomorrow, join Lisa at Lisa Schroeder Books to see what happens next!  If you would like to revisit where the poem has been, here is the list of 2014 Progressive Poem participants:

                    Line 1: Charles at Poetry Time
                    Line 2: Joy at Joy Acey
                    Line 3: Donna at Mainely Write
                    Line 4: Anastasia at Poet! Poet!
                    Line 5: Carrie at Story Patch
                    Line 6: Sheila at Sheila Renfro
                    Line 7: Pat at Writer on a Horse
                    Line 8: Matt at Radio, Rhythm & Rhyme
                    Line 9: Diane at Random Noodling
                    Line 10: Tabatha at The Opposite of Indifference
                    Line 11: Linda at Write Time
                    Line 12: Mary Lee at A Year of Reading
                    Line 13: Janet at Live Your Poem
                    Line 14: Deborah at Show--Not Tell
                    Line 15: Tamera at The Writer's Whimsy
                    Line 16: Robyn at Life on the Deckle Edge
                    Line 17: Margaret at Reflections on the Teche
                    Line 18: Irene at Live Your Poem
                    Line 19: Julie at The Drift Record
                    Line 20: Buffy at Buffy Silverman
                    Line 21: Renee at No Water River
                    Line 22: Laura at Author Amok
                    Line 23: Amy at The Poem Farm
                    Line 24: Linda at TeacherDance
                    Line 25: Michelle at Today's Little Ditty
                    Line 26: Lisa at Lisa Schroeder Books
                    Line 27: Kate at Live Your Poem
                    Line 28: Caroline at Caroline Starr Rose
                    Line 29: Ruth at There is No Such Thing as a Godforsaken Town
                    Line 30: Tara at A Teaching Life

Finally, a reminder before I send you on your merry-hen way:

Be sure to come back next week for Today's Little Ditty's new Spotlight ON interview series and the first Ditty of the Month Club challenge!

Tabatha Yeatts, Pet Wrangler and Imaginary Poem Keeper, has today's Poetry Friday roundup at The Opposite of Indifference.