Welcome, all who seek to read the signs!Welcome, all who journey line by line!
For those who don't know what the Kidlitosphere Progressive Poem is, welcome to a yearly event conceived and hosted by poet Irene Latham. Each day the poem travels to a different blog, and each blogger adds his or her line.
Our poem grows here thought by thought;
Does it build or turn or what?
The only way to know's below.
I toss my line into the flow...
But I'll admit, it's been quite a
bit more deliberate than that word "toss" suggests. I've
struggled to find and flow with the current of this one, dear poets, and now I
shall dare to boldly, brashly reconstruct the whole darn thing through the use
of a title and some powerful punctuation.
Is mine the last word? Oh, no,
indeed! Tomorrow's poet may see things very differently, and if I've overstepped in supplying a title before the end, all should feel free to ignore it. I'm down
with that. But I myself needed a clearer structure to proceed, so here goes: a dialogue.
West Wind Dreams of Taking Shape
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 craves the sun.
Kites soar while joyful dogs run.
"I sing to spring, to budding green,
to all of life – seen and unseen."
Wee whispers drift from cloud to ear
and finally reach one divining seer
who looks up from her perch and beams —
"West Wind is dreaming May, it seems."
"Golden wings open and gleam
as I greet the prancing team.
Gliding aside with lyrical speed,
I’d ride Pegasus to Ganymede."
To a pied pocket, the zephyr returns.
Blowing soft words the seer discerns
from earthbound voyage to dreamy night,
"The time is now. I give you flight!"
I lift! The world below me blurred
by tears of joy. I spiral high,
I hum, I dive, I dip, I hive!"
********************************************
The list of those who have contributed to this wonder of a poem is below, and I pass West Wind on to Sheila Renfro....And now for the bonus music! Today's Poetry-Music Match-Up takes us way back to 1972 or so, when I learned to play a junior version of this on the piano as a gift for Mother's Day.
Will Sheila grant West Wind a new shape, or take a wild waggle in another direction? And what of the seer? Stay tuned, friends, for the building finale!
2016 KIDLITOSPHERE PROGRESSIVE POEM
April
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 Charles Waters Poetry
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
HA! You made the progressive poem behave by punctuating it, and then do double duty as a music match-up! Perfect song!!
ReplyDeleteYou have tamed the west wind and the poem with punctuation and title--very nice. And I love your 4-verb line (who knew that hive could be a verb? not me.)
ReplyDeleteWindy was my first ever record purchase--at Woolworth's, back in the day (and by the day I think late 60s?) when twelve year olds rode the bus with their friends and hung out downtown.) Thanks for bringing back that memory!
Exciting turn of events, Heidi! I like your bold maneuvering.
ReplyDeleteHow very west-winderly of you, Heidi! Well played... and I do love your introduction-to-progressive-poem lines as well. And now I shall "hive." :) THANK You! xo
ReplyDeleteFun line--love your verbs and near rhyme! And the punctuation you added to help make sense of previous lines. So smart:>)
ReplyDeleteAnd I have a music/poem matchup. "Trees," by Joyce Kilmer (today's Your Daily Poem--http://www.yourdailypoem.com/listpoem.jsp?poem_id=2189) and "The Way I Feel," by Gordon Lightfoot. I adore that song and the whole love/tree analogy.
"The way I feel is like a robin
Whose babes have flown to come no more
Like a tall oak tree alone and cryin'
When the birds have flown and the nest is bare"
and
"Your coat of green, it will protect her
Her wings will grow, your love will too"
Audio at https://youtu.be/AMOgpau2nkE
Trees make a great metaphor for so many things! Happy Poetry Month, Heidi!
Got my work cut for me! I The Association! Love the title too.
ReplyDeleteHaven't head that song since before my kids, Heidi. Love that you've found a "character" for us who's zipping, and "hiving" around. Very clever!
ReplyDeleteHmmm. I think my prospective last line will still work.... Let's see tomorrow. Loved that I had to look up the verb "hive" in this context.
ReplyDeleteHmmm again...I didn't look it up; I just MADE it up!
DeleteAh, the title and punctuation clear some things up for me. Who knew we were writing about the wind? Or were we?
ReplyDeleteI love that you made up hive, Heidi! I have to admit that my first stop after reading your line was dictionary.com! I thought it was so clever but wanted to see the verb definition...but since you made it up, I'm just going to using my imagination for the verb hive!
ReplyDeleteI like your structure! And thanks for the bonus music :-)
Love the music of your internal rhyme! One can sense the motion of flying through the air, but I wonder what will happen tomorrow, if the character is hiving (finding shelter)...who knows where Sheila will take us!
ReplyDelete"I hive" - that is SO you, Heidi. Great line! :0)
ReplyDeleteI like what you've done, Heidi! A tiny bit of an ego thing from me since you uaed some elegant (talking geometric proof definition here) repetition of my line! This line from a favorite recitation poem, "Harvest Home," uses hive as a verb: "Yes, hive your honey little hummer/ the woods are waving,'farewell, summer.' " I love your version and play on Joy's "hies." Clever all around. In DC for NLAPW "Pen Women" convention.
ReplyDelete