Happy National Poetry Month!
Happy 2016 Kidlitosphere Progressive Poem!

The Kidlitosphere Progressive Poem is hosted by poet, Irene Latham. Irene had this brilliant idea in 2012 and every year since words have wandered from poet to poet all through the month of April. A progressive poem is more delicious than a progressive dinner because the words are here to savor and enjoy over and over again. How does it work? Each day of the month, the poem lands at a different blog with a different poet adding a line. To follow the progress of the poem refer to the links listed in this post. I’ve also added them to my sidebar for easy reference.

Here are the first four lines of the poem from Laura Purdie Salas, Joy Acey, Doraine Bennett, and Diane Mayr.

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

When I read Diane’s line I felt the end of a stanza. I’m going to add a line break and start a new stanza. But the fun of a progressive poem is, that as it progresses, each poet can change things up. So I realize my line break may or may not remain.
Also, when I read Diane’s line I thought of two directions that I could take the poem. I could keep flying and start a new stanza with birds in mind. Or I could start a new stanza introducing new creatures. Of course, I had other choices but from the minute I read Laura’s first line, I imagined 30 lines wandering through nature and enjoying the wonder. Joy continued with another bird. And Doraine’s line had me imagining I was a bird—a part of nature. Diane’s line enhanced the wonder of a bird’s-eye view, but I felt new creatures on the horizon.

I’m adding my line and passing this on to Carol Varsalona at Beyond LiteracyLink.

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

If you’d like to follow the progressive poem, here is the list of contributing poets.

Happy National Poetry Month!
Happy 2016 Kidlitosphere Progressive Poem!

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 & 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

Happy National Poetry Month!
and
Happy 2015 Kidlitosphere Progressive Poem

The Kidlitosphere Progressive Poem is hosted by poet, Irene Latham. Irene had this brilliant idea in 2012 and each year since words have wandered from poet to poet all through the month of April. A progressive poem is more delicious than a progressive dinner because the words are here to savor and enjoy over and over again. How does it work? Each day of the month, the poem lands at a different blog with a different poet adding a line. Here are the first nineteen lines of the poem along with my addition for line 20.

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.

Born from the oyster, expect the pearl.
Reach for the rainbow reflection on the smallest dewdrop.

The surface glistens, a shadow slips above her head, a paddle dips
she reaches, seizes. She’s electric energy and turquoise eyes.

Lifted high, she gulps strange air – stares clearly into
Green pirogue, crawfish trap, startled fisherman

with turquoise eyes, twins of her own, riveted on her wrist–
She’s swifter than a dolphin, slipping away, leaving him only a handful of

memories of his own grandmother’s counsel: Watch for her. You’ll have but one chance to
determine—to decide. Garner wisdom from the water and from the pearl of the past.

And tomorrow Tara at A Teaching Life will take us one line further . . . one line closer. Other contributors are listed below.

Just for fun, you can click HERE if you’d like to read the progressive poems from 2012-2014.

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 Mary Lee 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