2013 Kidlitosphere Progressive Poem-Day 18

Posted on by Penny Parker Klostermann

2013 Progressive Poem

Today the 2013 Kidlitosphere Progressive Poem is spending the day at my place,  ~a penny and her jots~. Yes, it’s my turn to add a line to a poem that is being written
day by day,
line by line,
poet by poet.
Thanks to Irene Latham at Live Your Poem for organizing and hosting this event in celebration of National Poetry Month.

Yesterday, Renée at No Water River added her words. She gave me a nice line to work with as she was hoping to bring our words down to earth. She ended her line with “crowd hush”. Plus, she mentioned Cirque du Soleil in her post. Along the way, other poets have contributed words such as trapeze,  swinging, throw, catch, soaring, exploring, and safety net. I couldn’t help but imagine the whole circus setting as I played with words that could ground our progressive poem as it has already journeyed past many pens, and has more pens in its future. I don’t have to bring our words to earth. I could send them flying back—leave them hanging. But, they don’t call me Pollyanna Penny for nothin’! I like to tidy things up; tie up loose ends; head toward that we’re-all-gonna-live-happily-ever-after ending. So, with my line, I bring us to earth with wonderment as the crowd is amazed at how well we work together as we piggyback our poet pens.

When you listen to your footsteps
the words become music and
the rhythm that you’re rapping gets your fingers tapping, too.
Your pen starts dancing across the page
a private pirouette, a solitary samba until
smiling, you’re beguiling as your love comes shining through.

Pause a moment in your dreaming, hear the whispers
of the words, one dancer to another, saying
Listen, that’s our cue! Mind your meter. Find your rhyme.
Ignore the trepidation while you jitterbug and jive.
Arm in arm, toe to toe, words begin to wiggle and flow
as your heart starts singing let your mind keep swinging

from life’s trapeze, like a clown on the breeze.
Swinging upside down, throw and catch new sounds–
Take a risk, try a trick; break a sweat: safety net?
Don’t check! You’re soaring and exploring,
dangle high, blood rush; spiral down, crowd hush–
limb-by-line-by-limb envision, pyramidic penned precision.

We are back down to earth. Stacked in a perfect, poetic pyramid. The crowd sees our vision because our limbs (our pens) are writing lines, and our pyramid (our poem) is precisely the kind of vision to hush the crowd.  No way we could’ve stacked these lines so beautifully, and with such precision, if we didn’t have a shared vision. We are all in this circus together…yes, performing for the crowd…but mainly wanting to contribute to a finished product where our trust for each other is evident. Just like performers in Cirque du Soleil, our poem is not a solo performance. Our pens, our words, work together. And on April 30th, when we take the final bow, we will know that the last 30 days have been a special performance. We will dance back to the beginning of the poem and follow our footsteps to the end.

Was that Pollyanna-ish enough or what?? By now you’re either throwing up or applauding!!! And, hey, it’s OK if you’re throwing up because sometimes I make myself sick, too! LOL!

I am passing the poem to the our wonderful host Irene Latham.

Here are the scheduled stops for our progressive poem. You can also find the schedule in my sidebar.

April Progressive Poets
1  Amy Ludwig VanDerwater
2  Joy Acey
3  Matt Forrest Esenwine
4  Jone MacCulloch
5  Doraine Bennett
6  Gayle Krause
7  Janet Fagal
8  Julie Larios
9  Carrie Finison
10  Linda Baie
11  Margaret Simon
12  Linda Kulp
13  Catherine Johnson
14  Heidi Mordhorst
15  Mary Lee Hahn
16  Liz Steinglass
17  Renee LaTulippe
18  Penny Klostermann
19  Irene Latham
20  Buffy Silverman
21  Tabatha Yeatts
22  Laura Shovan
23  Joanna Marple
24  Katya Czaja
25  Diane Mayr
26  Robyn Hood Black
27  Ruth Hersey
28  Laura Purdie Salas
29  Denise Mortensen
30  April Halprin Wayland

28 thoughts on “2013 Kidlitosphere Progressive Poem-Day 18”

  4. Excellent, Penny! I really love the image of the pyramid — every word performing its part, supporting some of the weight of the structure.

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  10. Great line, Penny. I am applauding, not vomiting:>) I loved reading about your thought process here. And I’m glad you brought it back down to earth with three nouns (or noun bases)–lines, limbs, and pyramids. These put a geometric, earth-bound picture in my head that I enjoyed.

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  12. I am a huge fan of alliteration and you use it so well to build our pyramid image. I love that we are all in this together, watching and waiting to see where this dancing circus poem will take us.

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  15. Terrific Penny (and I have a highly-developed gag reflex.) I’m glad Irene’s up before me, so she can decide where the new stanza will launch after you’ve brought us so skillfully back to earth.

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  17. Thanks for all the comments folks! I am subbing in Kindergarten today, and we are heading out on a field trip in a few minutes. We are going to Western Heritage, where, among other things, we will get to watch as they shear a sheep. I wish I’d worn my boots and my hat 🙂 Yeehaw!

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  21. Piggybacking poet pens! LUV it! Pollyana I love your playful addition. I am starting to get nervous now, as this year is the first time I have played…. but I am hoping the sandbox is big enough for my mess! ha!

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  25. Fantastic line, Penny! You managed to blend circus and movement back with writing and the vocab is super. Way to go!

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  27. I knew you’d give us some wonderful language play, Penny! I really like “Limb-by-line-by-limb” and of course the rhymes. And I assure you I did not throw up even a little bit. Au contraire – after reading your thoughts, I’m feeling fit as an acrobat. 🙂

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