Progressive Poem Day 18
Progressive Poem 2023
Each year the Poetry Friday community puts together a kidlit progressive poem. Each day, someone new adds a line.
Rules from Mary Lee Hahn’s blog. She posted on Day 1.
The rules are few: “The poem will be passing from blog to blog with each poet-blogger adding a line. The poem is for children. Other than that, anything goes.” Each blogger will copy the previous lines exactly as written (unless permission from the previous poet is obtained) and add their line, including commentary on their process if they wish.
The Poem
Suddenly everything fell into place
like raindrops hitting soil and sinking in.
When morning first poked me, I’d wished it away
my mind in the mist, muddled, confused.
Was this a dream or reality, rousing my response?
The sun surged, urging me to join in its rising,
Rising like a crystal ball reflecting on morning dew.
I jumped out of bed, ready to explore the day.
My feet pull me outside and into the garden
Where lilies and bees weave…but wait! What’s that?
A bevy of bunnies jart and dart and play in the clover.
A dog barks and flash, the bunderstorm is over.
I breathe-brave, quiet. Like a seed,
as the day, foretold in my dream, ventured upon me.
Sunbeams guided me to the gate overgrown with wisteria
where I spotted the note tied to the gate.
As I reached the gnarled gate, pollen floated like fairy dust into my face. Aaah Choo!
Enter, if you must. We’ve been waiting for you.
My Process
I decided to add the text of the note. I played around with a bunch of different possible texts for the note, and landed on the last line you see in italics. I’m currently at Highlights at a poetry workshop where Irene Latham and Charles Waters are teaching. This place is full of magic, and I’ve been getting a lot of work done.
Progressive Poem Schedule
Here is the list of poets participating in the poem this month.
April 1 Mary Lee Hahn, A(nother) Year of Reading
April 2 Heidi Mordhorst, My Juicy Little Universe
April 3 Tabatha, The Opposite of Indifference
April 4 Buffy Silverman
April 5 Rose Cappelli, Imagine the Possibilities
April 6 Donna Smith, Mainely Write
April 7 Margaret Simon, Reflections on the Teche
April 8 Leigh Anne, A Day in the Life
April 9 Linda Mitchell, A Word Edgewise
April 10 Denise Krebs, Dare to Care
April 11 Emma Roller, Penguins and Poems
April 12 Dave Roller, Leap Of Dave
April 13 Irene Latham Live Your Poem
April 14 Janice Scully, Salt City Verse
April 15 Jone Rush MacCulloch
April 16 Linda Baie TeacherDance
April 17 Carol Varsalona, Beyond Literacy Link
April 18 Marcie Atkins
April 19 Carol Labuzzetta at The Apples in My Orchard
April 20 Cathy Hutter, Poeturescapes
April 21 Sarah Grace Tuttle at Sarah Grace Tuttle’s Blog,
April 22 Marilyn Garcia
April 23 Catherine at Reading to the Core
April 24 Janet Fagal, hosted by Tabatha, The Opposite of Indifference
April 25 Ruth, There is no Such Thing as a God-Forsaken Town
April 26 Patricia J. Franz, Reverie
April 27 Theresa Gaughan, Theresa’s Teaching Tidbits
April 28 Karin Fisher-Golton, Still in Awe Blog
April 29 Karen Eastlund, Karen’s Got a Blog
19 Comments
Catherine Flynn
Great job, Marcie! You’ve heightened the suspense, and I can’t wait to see who’s waiting beyond the gate!
Rose Cappelli
Oooh! An added bit of suspense. Who could it be? A great line to maybe introduce a new character???
Mary Lee
Ahh…PERFECT! I’m glad you gave us the text of the note!
Marcie Flinchum Atkins
I couldn’t resist! 🙂
Linda Baie
Wonderful that you’ve revealed the note and now. . .? Have a great time at Highlights with Irene and Charles!
Marcie Flinchum Atkins
It was wonderful! More on that soon!
Denise Krebs
Oh, Marcie, I love the text of the note! I can’t wait to find out who the “we” is. Enjoy your time with Irene and Charles. It sounds like a wonderful time.
Marcie Flinchum Atkins
Thank you!
Carol J. Labuzzetta
Thanks for adding the text to the note, Marcie…I’m deciding on what to add next. You’ve provided several ways for this to go. Thanks, again! And enjoy the conference!
Marcie Flinchum Atkins
It was a fabulous conference!
Margaret Simon
Marcie,
Suspense is building…who wrote the note? There’s a new voice added. I am so envious of your time with Irene and Charles. Soak it in! And thanks for the latest postcard.
Marcie Flinchum Atkins
I did soak it in. Still processing. 🙂 So glad you enjoyed the postcard.
Karin Fisher-Golton
Oooo! I like learning that the gate is an entrance to something. And who is waiting? You packed a lot of intrigue into those few words.
Marcie Flinchum Atkins
Thank you! I love a bit of intrigue! 🙂
Carol Varsalona
Marcie, the intrigue mounts as you wrote, “Enter if you must. ” Then, adding two more characters makes the interest stronger. Thanks for adding the note.
Marcie Flinchum Atkins
You bet! It was fun!
Heidi Mordhorst
Lucky you, at Highlights! I’m so interested in “if you must,” especially contrasted with “we’ve been waiting”!
Marcie Flinchum Atkins
I do feel lucky, for sure!
Pingback: