npm 24: spider, continued

 

I cannot let go of this line from "Dead Stars" by Ada Limon:

"I am a hearth of spiders these days: a nest of trying."

 

Start in the center and then follow the legs around clockwise starting with "spinning." I'm working on how to arrange it so readers don't need directions!

 

 

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My project for NPM 2022:

 

This month I'm making "human stories to move human beings.  Human stories are more powerful for inciting action than counting carbon or detailing melting glaciers." (Favianna Rodriguez, from her essay "Harnessing Cultural Power," in ALL WE CAN SAVE.)

 

1 A tribute to those who keep writing poetry in the face of climate calamity

2 Gratitude for those who take the time to fix things

3 A musical listing of not nearly all the women featured in this book

4 An observation of those considering climate-friendly human habitats

5 A comparison of beaver wisdom with human attempts to control water & fire

6 A reading of the intro to THE OVERSTORY: listening to trees 

7 A celebration of how young children still understand that they are animals on the planet 

8, 9,10 A trumpet in 3 emails about the power of women to lead change on a grand scale  

11 An exhortation to little girls to step in line behind those women who are leading on policy    

12 A view of our intelligent, anxious human story about survival gone mad, and a new narrative   

14 A pause to take a breath  

15 A consideration (again) of the special challenge of Being Human on the planet   

18 A tribute to Mayapples and the multiplicity of climate organizations out there doing the work  

19 A sashay down the catwalk in a superhero supermodel cape 

22 An Earth Day exhortation: D.E.A.R. Time (don't be me, be WE) 

23 On the feeling of being "a hearth of spiders"

npm 23: i am a hearth of spiders these days: a nest of trying

 

The title is a line from "Dead Stars" by Ada Limon that absolutely slays me.

I am a hearth of spiders these days: a nest of trying

<poem>

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My project for NPM 2022:

 

This month I'm making "human stories to move human beings.  Human stories are more powerful for inciting action than counting carbon or detailing melting glaciers." (Favianna Rodriguez, from her essay "Harnessing Cultural Power," in ALL WE CAN SAVE.)

 

1 A tribute to those who keep writing poetry in the face of climate calamity

2 Gratitude for those who take the time to fix things

3 A musical listing of not nearly all the women featured in this book

4 An observation of those considering climate-friendly human habitats

5 A comparison of beaver wisdom with human attempts to control water & fire

6 A reading of the intro to THE OVERSTORY: listening to trees 

7 A celebration of how young children still understand that they are animals on the planet 

8, 9,10 A trumpet in 3 emails about the power of women to lead change on a grand scale  

11 An exhortation to little girls to step in line behind those women who are leading on policy    

12 A view of our intelligent, anxious human story about survival gone mad, and a new narrative   

14 A pause to take a breath  

15 A consideration (again) of the special challenge of Being Human on the planet   

18 A tribute to Mayapples and the multiplicity of climate organizations out there doing the work  

19 A sashay down the catwalk in a superhero supermodel cape

22 An Earth Day exhortation: D.E.A.R. Time (don't be me, be WE)

npm 22: d.e.a.r. time

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

<poem? 

D.E.A.R. Time

Dear Powerful Ones,

 

Yes, you, my friends.  And me.  Because

we have the power to make choices 

every day that prioritize

our comfort, 

our convenience, 

our control.

But do you remember how urgent it was,

once upon a time,

to fight back against the Basal Reader?

Do you remember how we 

Dropped. Everything. And. Read, dear?

Defended the sanctity of 

reading for pleasure?

Do you remember the fear

of April 2020, how urgent it was,

once upon a time two years ago,

to Freeze. Everything. And. Repel that

killer virus? We are still seared by it,

by how we are today making 

uncomfortable,

inconvenient,

uncontrollable choices

to save our lives and others?

Happy Earth Day.  THIS IS THE SAME.

It’s time to Drop. Everything. And. Revolt, dear.

We know it’s serious, we know it’s urgent,

and we feel powerless.  It’s true 

that our reusable totes

and our refusable straws

and our backyard compost tumblers

don’t make a carbon-ton of difference

by themselves.  These actions aren’t near

enough. Not. Everything. Achieves. Results.

But it’s not hopeless and we’re not helpless.

The key is WE, do you hear?

Hold. Everyone. And. Rise. 

We have to find our people and join them.  

Never was power in numbers more pertinent. 

Don’t be me. The key is WE. 

Just ask the Mayapples.

We are tree-huggers and wolf-lovers.

We are Sunrise Movement

and Model Mafia.

We are vegan chefs

and bioplastics engineers.

We are Elders Climate Action

and Moms Clean Air Force.  

We are Interfaith Power & Light,

fly-fishers and knitters, collagists, 

photographers and dancers;

we adore the beach, the mountains,

our grandgirls, our sons, our students,

and there is not one single identity we have 

that is not touched by this crisis. 

We are voters and we are human and

WE ARE POETS. Clearly it is our job to 

Crazy. Love. Everything. And. Render it 

powerful in words, AND whatever else

we care about, to join that movement--

or make that movement.

DropEverythingAndRevolt, dear. Be bigger.

The key is WE.  Happy Earth Day.  It’s time.

********************

Thank you for coming to my TED Talk.  Go in peace; serve the Earth.

(and click the links to find your people.)

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My project for NPM 2022:

 

This month I'm making "human stories to move human beings.  Human stories are more powerful for inciting action than counting carbon or detailing melting glaciers." (Favianna Rodriguez, from her essay "Harnessing Cultural Power," in ALL WE CAN SAVE.)

 

Read previous poems in the series here:

1 A tribute to those who keep writing poetry in the face of climate calamity

2 Gratitude for those who take the time to fix things

3 A musical listing of not nearly all the women featured in this book

4 An observation of those considering climate-friendly human habitats

 

5 A comparison of beaver wisdom with human attempts to control water & fire

6 A reading of the intro to THE OVERSTORY: listening to trees 

7 A celebration of how young children still understand that they are animals on the planet 

8, 9,10 A trumpet in 3 emails about the power of women to lead change on a grand scale  

11 An exhortation to little girls to step in line behind those women who are leading on policy    

12 A view of our intelligent, anxious human story about survival gone mad, and a new narrative   

14 A pause to take a breath  

15 A consideration (again) of the special challenge of Being Human on the planet   

18 A tribute to Mayapples and the multiplicity of climate organizations out there doing the work  

19 A sashay down the catwalk in a superhero supermodel cape

npm 19: supermodel cape

 

 

Model Mafia: 

“We are experts at using social media to market ourselves and when we choose to turn this skill on its head we can direct it towards a cause. As a group, we are changing the conversation within the industry.” -- Brana Dane

 <poem>

 Supermodel Cape

 

Cameron Russell started the Model Mafia, and if you want to know why "Fashion's carbon footprint is big and growing, responsible for 8 to 10 percent of global emissions," you can read her chilling but also gracious comparison of the fashion and the fossil-fuel industries in "Dear Fossil Fuel Executives".
 

 

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My project for NPM 2022:

 

This month I'm making "human stories to move human beings.  Human stories are more powerful for inciting action than counting carbon or detailing melting glaciers." (Favianna Rodriguez, from her essay "Harnessing Cultural Power," in ALL WE CAN SAVE.)

 

Read previous poems in the series here:

1 A tribute to those who keep writing poetry in the face of climate calamity

2 Gratitude for those who take the time to fix things

3 A musical listing of not nearly all the women featured in this book

4 An observation of those considering climate-friendly human habitats

 

5 A comparison of beaver wisdom with human attempts to control water & fire

6 A reading of the intro to THE OVERSTORY: listening to trees 

7 A celebration of how young children still understand that they are animals on the planet 

8, 9,10 A trumpet in 3 emails about the power of women to lead change on a grand scale  

11 An exhortation to little girls to step in line behind those women who are leading on policy    

12 A view of our intelligent, anxious human story about survival gone mad, and a new narrative   

14 A pause to take a breath  

15 A consideration (again) of the special challenge of Being Human on the planet  

18 A tribute to Mayapples and the multiplicity of climate organizations out there doing the work

npm 18: the mayapples

  

The Mayapples

<poem>

 

These photos are from the smallest woods you can imagine, an area about a quarter-mile square, wedged between suburban cul-de-sacs and the elementary school, about 100 yards from my front door.  It's always a special place, although many in the neighborhood have never set foot in it, but during the pandemic it was particularly a place of serenity and industry, refuge and entertainment.  I walked around and around; my son built lean-to shelters and twisted rope from the bark of fallen trees; my spouse protected its paths from reckless motorbikers; and we all watched its transformation from season to season.  It also has the advantage of being situated at the top of a rise, meaning that it always catches the very last of the sun in the evening.

Last night the Mayapples reminded me that as insignificant as I often feel in the climate rescue movement, I am never doing anything alone.  In ALL WE CAN SAVE, Varshini Prakash writes in "We Are Sunrise" about falling "in love with organizing because it's about changing politics, not just lightbulbs, and challenging the status quo...practicing democracy in ways that are vibrant and inclusive."  And while Sunrise Movement sprang up in part because the youth who formed it were fed up with existing green organizations, in truth we will succeed only if there are a hundred and more ways for each of us to find the group that helps us connect and act.

"We wade collectively through the paralysis of fear, grief, shame, and hopelessness and into action that brings feelings of strength, possibility, and even joy.  For this is noble and necessary work, and it is impossible to do alone."

                                                                                        --Kate Knuth, "Becoming a Climate Citizen"

 

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My project for NPM 2022:

 

This month I'm making "human stories to move human beings.  Human stories are more powerful for inciting action than counting carbon or detailing melting glaciers." (Favianna Rodriguez, from her essay "Harnessing Cultural Power," in ALL WE CAN SAVE.)

 

Read previous poems in the series here:

1 A tribute to those who keep writing poetry in the face of climate calamity

2 Gratitude for those who take the time to fix things

3 A musical listing of not nearly all the women featured in this book

4 An observation of those considering climate-friendly human habitats

 

5 A comparison of beaver wisdom with human attempts to control water & fire

6 A reading of the intro to THE OVERSTORY: listening to trees 

7 A celebration of how young children still understand that they are animals on the planet 

8, 9,10 A trumpet in 3 emails about the power of women to lead change on a grand scale  

11 An exhortation to little girls to step in line behind those women who are leading on policy    

12 A view of our intelligent, anxious human story about survival gone mad, and a new narrative   

14 A pause to take a breath 

15 A consideration (again) of the special challenge of Being Human on the planet

npm 16: the progressive poem lands here

And here we are, halfway through!  Today it is my honor and challenge to add to the annual collaborative KidLit Poetry Friday tradition known as the Progressive Poem. Like a Progressive Dinner, in which the dining party enjoys each course of a grand meal at different house, the poem passes from blog to blog, poet to poet, each offering a line to progress the poem towards its end on April 30.

This year we have children's fiction on the menu.  Thanks to Irene Latham , originator of the Progressive Poem, we are drawing from books to build a cento, "a literary work made up of quotations from other authors." She started us off with a line from a favorite book, and each of us so far has selected and/or adapted from our favorites.  Here's where we are, with my line added at the bottom.

I've made another change too, just as an experiment.  I've italicized the narrative lines and left the lines which seem to belong to a member of the mapless traveling party in regular font.  Some indenting maybe also helps us manage the very much longer lines that characterize our poem.  If anyone ahead prefers the other formatting, feel free to change it back!

2022 Progressive Poem

Where they were going, there were no maps.

Sorry! I don’t want any adventures, thank you. Not today.

Take the adventure, heed the call, now ere the irrevocable moment passes!

We have to go back. I forgot something.

But it’s spring, and the world is puddle-wonderful, 

so we’ll whistle and dance and set off on our way.

Come with me, and you’ll be in a land of pure imagination.

Wherever you go, take your hopes, pack your dreams, and never forget –

 it is on our journeys that discoveries are made.

And then it was time for singing.

Can you sing with all the voices of the mountain, paint with all 

the colors of the wind, freewheeling through an endless diamond sky?

Suddenly, they stopped and realized they weren’t the only ones singing.

Listen, a chattering of monkeys! Let’s smell the dawn 

and taste the moonlight, we’ll watch it all spread out before us.

 

The moon is slicing through the sky. We whisper to the tree, 

tap on the trunk, imagine it feeling our sound.

 

Clouds of blue-winged swallows, rain from up the mountains,

Green growing all around, and the cool splash of the fountain.

If you look the right way, you can see that the whole world is a garden,

a bright, secret, quiet place, and rather sad; 

 

and they stepped out into the middle of it.

I apologize (or maybe I don't!), but I just can't help casting a climate-conscious light on our poem so far--for indeed we, and our children especially, are headed somewhere where "there are no maps."  Plenty of us are overwhelmed, would rather say "No thank you, none of this terrifying adventure today," but we must heed the call, ere "the irrevocable moment passes."  We do have to go back, so as not to forget how we got here, and also move forward--with puddle-wonderful joy and much singing about what we are trying to save (monkeys! mountains! trees! swallows!)--journey forward with pure imagination, hopes, dreams, and discoveries that become solutions. 

The whole world is a garden, rather sad right now, and we are stepping into the middle of this challenge with poetry to gird us. How will Ruth and those that follow move our rambling, ragtag group of adventurers to action?  Visit Ruth tomorrow at There is no such thing as a God-forsaken Town to see what she makes of all this. Onward, poets!

 

Our lines came from the following sources:

1. The Imaginaries: Little Scraps of Larger Stories, by Emily Winfield Martin
2. The Hobbit, by J. R. R. Tolkien
3. The Wind in the Willows, by Kenneth Grahame
4. Walk Two Moons by Sharon Creech
5. inspired by “[in Just-]” by E. E. Cummings
6. “Pure Imagination” from Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory
7. Maybe by Kobi Yamada
8. Sarah, Plain, and Tall by Patricia MacLachlan
9. inspired by Disney songs “A Whole New World” from Aladdin and “Colors of the Wind” from Pocahontas
10. The Other Way to Listen by Byrd Baylor
11. adapted from Cinnamon by Neil Gaiman
12. adapted from The Magical Imperfect by Chris Baron
13. adapted from On the Same Day in March by Marilyn Singer
14. adapted from a line in Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson
15. The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett
16. Prince Caspian by CS Lewis
    

The schedule of 2022 Progressive Poem participants is:

1 Irene at Live Your Poem
2 Donna Smith at Mainely Write
3 Catherine Flynn at Reading to the Core
4 Mary Lee at A(nother) Year of Reading
5 Buffy at Buffy Silverman
6 Linda at A Word Edgewise
7 Kim Johnson at Common Threads
8 Rose Cappelli at Imagine the Possibilities
9 Carol Varsalona at Beyond Literacy Link
10 Linda Baie at Teacher Dance
11 Janet Fagal at Reflections on the Teche
12 Jone at Jone Rush MacCulloch
13 Karin Fisher-Golton at Still in Awe
14 Denise Krebs at Dare to Care
15 Carol Labuzzetta at The Apples in my Orchard
16 Heidi Mordhorst at My Juicy Little Universe
17 Ruth at There is no such thing as a God-forsaken Town
18 Patricia at Reverie
19 Christie at Wondering and Wandering
20 Robyn Hood Black at Life on the Deckle Edge
21 Kevin at Dog Trax
22 Margaret at Reflections on the Teche
23 Leigh Anne at A Day in the Life
24 Marcie Atkins
25 Marilyn Garcia
26 JoAnn Early Macken
27 Janice at Salt City Verse
28 Tabatha at The Opposite of Indifference
29 Karen Eastlund at Karen’s Got a Blog
30 Michelle Kogan Painting, Illustration, & Writing