Progressive Poem is Here!

 

Welcome to the next line in the 2026 Kidlit Progressive Poem!

What is the Progressive Poem? I’ve taken this wording from Linda Mitchell, who got it from Linda Baie:

It began with Irene Latham, who hosted it from 2012-2019. Those archives of the poem can be found HERE! Margaret Simon took over in 2020, and those archives are HERE!

Here are the rules:

The poem passes from blog to blog.

Each poet/blogger adds a line.

The poem is for children.

Each blogger copies the previous line exactly as written, unless permission from that poet has been given. They then add their own line, offering an introduction if they wish.

Hooray for Tabatha's art, with places named by Donna and Heidi! 

Yay for all the poets who have brought us through this land and to this forested stage. 

It seems time to bring it back around to the speaker of our poem...how is she feeling now, after listening to the birds? What will she DO?

The Land of Poetry

On my first trip to the Land of Poetry,
I saw anthologies of every color, tall as buildings.
A world of words, wonder on wings, waiting just for me!
Birding for words shimmering, flecked in golden gilding.

Binoculars ready, I toured boulevards and side streets,
exploring vibrant verses, verses so honest and tender.
feathery lyrics, bright flitting avian athletes
soaring ‘cross pages in rhythmic splendor.

In the Land of Poetry, I am the conductor,
seeking oodles of poems that tug at my heart,
a musical medley of sound and structure,
An open mic in Frost Forest! Wonder who’ll take part?

There’s a pause in the program; no one takes the stage
the trees quiver, the audience looks up. Raven lands,

singing Earth’s message of the sage.
“Poetry in motion will be forevermore, from forests to sands.”

“Scatter,” she croaked. “Beyond Wilde Pond, to each and every beach.”
Meek Dove mustered courage and sang, “Instill humanity with compassion and peace.
Let Thackeray’s middle name, from this thicket, hearts reach!”
Her gentle coo-ooo-ooos reverberate, soft as fleece.

Words dart, dimple—Do I dare warble what's in my soul?

--
Karen, take it away! I can't wait to see where we land in just a few days' time!

Here are the fabulous poets contributing to this year's edition:

April 1 Tabatha Yeatts at The Opposite of Indifference
April 2 Cathy Stenquist at A Little Bit of This and That
April 3 Patricia Franz at Reverie
April 4 Donna Smith at Mainely Write
April 5 Janice Scully at Salt City Verse
April 6 Denise Krebs at Dare to Care
April 7 Ruth Hersey at There is no such thing as a God-forsaken town
April 8 Rose Cappelli at Imagine the Possibilities
April 9 Margaret Simon at Reflections on the Teche
April 10 Janet Clare Fagel at Reflections on the Teche
April 11 Diane Davis at Starting Again in Poetry
April 12 Linda Baie at Teacher Dance
April 13 Linda Mitchell at Another Word Edgewise
April 14 Jone MacCulloch at Jone Rush MacCulloch
April 15 Joyce Uglow at Storied Ink
April 16 Carol Varsalona at Beyond Literacy Link
April 17 Robyn Hood Black at Life on the Deckle Edge
April 18 Michele Kogan at More Art for All
April 19 Kim Johnson at Common Threads
April 20 Buffy Silverman
April 21 Irene Latham at Live Your Poem
April 22 Karen Edmisten
April 23 Heidi Mordhorst at my juicy little universe
April 24 Mary Lee Hahn at A(nother) Year of Reading
April 25 Tanita Davis at Fiction, instead of Lies
April 26 Sharon Roy at Pedaling Poet
April 27 Tracey Kiff-Judson at Tangles and Tails

April 28 Tabatha Yeatts at The Opposite of Indifference

A Polka Dot Poem

 

Irene & Charles
Maynard Public Library

Hello and Happy Poetry Friday! Be sure to visit Heidi at my juicy little universe for Roundup. (Next week's Roundup will be here! Hooray!)

You're invited to view my final Tuesday 2-Minute Writing Tip for the 2026 edition of the series, #35 "How I've Changed as a Writing Teacher." Thanks for your support!

Charles & Irene (photo by
Cathy Stenquist)

What a lovely time at Maynard Book Festival! So many thanks to the people who organized, volunteered, and attended! We heard some wonderful poems from a young patron. :) Special thanks to Mark Malcolm (the King of Kazoos!), the Maynard Public Library, and to Christie, Cindy, and Cathy for their hospitality (not a big enough word for all the ways they made our trip special and comfortable. mwah!). Charles and I couldn't be more grateful. There were many highlights of our weekend, but one that stands out is our walk with Cathy around Walden Pond. Time in nature is everything!

Tonight is the book launch for Some Starry Night. Hooray!

It's been fun (and emotional!) hearing from readers their responses to this, my first novel for adults.  Here's a new graphic I made, in case you're wondering if this book is for you. It includes the following endorsement:

"With her poetic voice, Irene Latham delivers a dreamy and engaging read in Some Starry Night. Offering deep research, lyrical writing, and emotional resonance, this story reminds us that it's never too late to risk it all for love." - Julie Cantrell, New York Times bestselling author of Perennials

You can still enter the Goodreads Giveaway through April 30. Good luck!

Today's ArtSpeak: WOMEN features Yayoi Kusama from the Harper's Bazaar list of most influential women artists. Kusama is known as "the Polkadot Princess," because she often uses polka dots en masse to create an experience of feeling insignificant as individuals and interconnectedness to others and the universe.

 Polkadot trees. Polkadot lights. And on and on! If you want to learn more about Yayoi Kusama and her work, please view this (short) video. Excellent!

Kusama's penchant for polkadots made me think of Rebecca Kai Dotlich, who loves them too! So I reached out to Rebecca and asked her to choose the last line of the poem—without showing her the first lines. :) Here are the choices I gave Rebecca:

the whole world is a polkadot – even you.

she was a polkadot, and so are you!

Paint isn't what makes a polkadot. The polkadot is you! 

And here's where we landed. Enjoy!

Polka Dots

for Rebecca Kai Dotlich

There was a poet
who loved polka dots:
on dresses and purses,
cows and horses!
She polka-dotted plates.
She polka-dotted chairs.
But sported polka dots
in her hair. She polka-dotted
trees, sky and moon—
until there were no more stars,
no more leaves.
Instead? All polka dots!
Until one day she polka-dotted
her tongue, cheeks and knees.
She coughed polka dots
and laughed polka dots.
My friends, she wheezed!
And that's when she knew:
she was a polka dot,
and so are you.

- Irene Latham

p.s. this poem has a rhythm and whimsy similar to one of my most favorite children's poems: "Knitted Things" by Karla Kuskin.

I Brake for Butterflies + Giveaway!

 Hello and Happy Poetry Friday! Be sure to visit Jone Rush MacCulloch for Roundup.

SO MUCH GOODNESS in our community this National Poetry Month. Hooray!

You're invited to view Tuesday 2-Minute Writing Tip 34, "What is Poetry?" It features one of my favorite poetry writing tools. Thanks for your support!

Today I'm away from my desk, en route to Maynard, Massachusetts, where Charles Waters and I will be sharing about our poetry anthologies at Maynard Book Festival. We're excited to re-connect with children's poet and librarian Mark Malcolm, whom we first met at Boyds Mills, the retreat center formerly known as Highlights. We're also super-excited to be meeting up with other Boyds Mills poets, Cindy Greene and Cathy Steinquist. You never know what will happen when poets get together! :)

My first novel for adults Some Starry Night releases next Tuesday! To celebrate, you're invited to enter a Goodreads giveaway—we're offering 3 signed copies of the book! Please share with others you think may be interested in reading about Vincent van Gogh & Emily Dickinson meeting in 1886 Paris. Good luck!

Goodreads Book Giveaway

Some Starry Night

by Irene Latham

Giveaway ends April 30, 2026.

See the giveaway details at Goodreads.

Enter Giveaway

Today's ArtSpeak: WOMEN features a piece by Helen Frankenthaler. She was influenced by Abstract Impressionism, but she did her own thing: a soak-stain technique that created a luminosity to her work. I love it! I found quite a few I'd like to write after. Again, titles matter. Here, I've selected an "untitled" piece so I could focus on my own emotional reaction to the piece. No doubt this poem was also influenced by this article about monarch butterflies being on the edge of extinction. ...and the reality of my driving experience. Thanks so much for reading!

I brake for butterflies

too often not fast

enough—

wings crash / against glass

I break

for butterflies

- Irene Latham

Stitch (a Picture Book!) Like an Egyptian with Dahlia Hamza Constantine

Hello and Happy Poetry Friday! Be sure to visit Matt at Radio, Rhythm, and Rhyme for Roundup.

Click here to view this week's Tuesday 2-Minute Writing Tip 33 "What is Success (for Writers)." 

Also I blogged over at Smack Dab in the Middle about writing identity & the kindness of readers...like YOU!

Today I'm excited to welcome to Live Your Poem Dahlia Hamza Constantine, my dear friend and co-author of A GOOD MORNING FOR GIDDO (illus. by Basma Hosam, Nancy Paulsen Books) which releases next Tuesday, April 7.  Don't miss this post where I blogged about Dahlia and me and this book earlier this year!

Y'all, we sold this book back in 2021, so it's so, so lovely to see it finally in print. It's my gazillionth time to work with editor Stacey Barney, which makes me feel like the luckiest girl in the world! And this is Dahlia's debut book, so I want her to have all the experiences! 

As is the tradition here at Live Your Poem, I've invited Dahlia to respond to 4 simple prompts inspired by Fresh Delicious: Poems from the Farmers' Market (illus. by Mique Moriuchi, WordSong)—which releases next week in paperback!! Which means new life for an old (2016) project! And makes me super-happy to imagine these fruit-n-veggie-love-imaginative-poems finding new readers. Hooray!

You will also find some asides from me below in pink. Thanks so much for reading!

FRESH

Dahlia at Mamaj restaurant (which
was a palace from 1469)

DHC: The freshest part of writing A Good Morning for Giddo was realizing… oh, we’re really writing this together.

I had never written fiction collaboratively before, and suddenly I was inside a shared Google Doc with Irene - building Somaya and Giddo’s world line by line.

There was so much laughter.  [IL: Dahlia has a magical, musical laugh. Joy joy joy!]

We were writing scenes like Somaya racing through the market, clutching her secret stitching, determined to get to the tentmakers… while Giddo gently slows her down—“Today is a day to savor being alive.” And somehow, that became our process too. We would rush toward an idea, then pause, linger, reshape it, laugh, and begin again.

It never felt solitary. It felt like walking through the market together—turning corners, discovering something new each time.  [IL: Exactly. There were so many surprises, so many connections between the two of us and between us and our story! And Poetry Friends: these two sentences are exactly what I'm after whenever I write or read a poem...turning corners, discovering something new...]

DIFFICULT

DHC: Picture books are tiny… and completely unforgiving. [Truth!]

The hardest part of writing Giddo was getting the language exactly right—so it could carry all that sensory richness in just a few words.

old Cairo market

We wanted you to hear the market—the old love songs on the radios, the chorus of voices, the call to prayer. We wanted you to smell the fava beans in lemony olive oil, the jasmine in the air. We wanted you to feel Somaya’s urgency and Giddo’s steady, anchoring presence.

And that meant every single word mattered.

There were times when Irene and I would try twenty different words for one line. Not exaggerating. Twenty. 

It was meticulous. It was a little absurd.

And we laughed the whole time. [A word we (apparently) love? Shimmer. Shimmered. Shimmery. We had too many of these in the story, and Stacey asked us to revise...which led to, you guessed it, shimmery laughter!]

DELICIOUS

DHC: The delicious part is that moment when everything finally clicks.

When a line like “even the Sphinx smiles” lands just right. When the rhythm of “good morning with roses… and jasmine… and sunshine” begins to echo through the book like a song. When Somaya’s journey—from rushing ahead to slowing down—feels complete.

Because this book is so sensory, those moments felt immersive. We weren’t just writing the market—we were inside it, wandering past the tentmakers, the ink sellers, the tea, the music, the shimmer of fabric and abalone shells. [shimmer! Big smile!]

And then I went back.

the light in the market

I’ve been to the old market in Cairo twice since writing the book, and both times I felt it—I wasn’t just myself anymore. I was Somaya, noticing everything with fresh eyes, feeling the story layered over the real place. [I LOVE imagining Dahlia/Somaya at the market! I wish I could go! It has been many, many years since I was in Cairo, but y'all I can still smell it!]

But honestly? The most delicious part was working with Irene. 

That shared delight in getting it just right—that was the magic. [Aw, big blushy thanks. And: Yes! It was delicious and delightful working with Dahlia. Did I mention JOY? And MAGIC!]

ANYTHING ELSE

DHC: At its heart, this book is about slowing down. [Children need this message. *I* need this message!]

Somaya begins the story rushing—we must get to the tentmakers!—and ends by saying, “I like it when we take our time.”

That shift feels very true to the writing process, too.

chairs with abalone inlay

We thought we were writing a simple story about a morning in the market. But what we were really doing was learning how to pause, notice, listen, and let the story unfold at its own pace.

Also, if you ever find yourself debating twenty words for a single sentence… just know you’re in excellent company.

And maybe—just maybe—you’re getting close. [Can you tell Dahlia is a former teacher?? I have learned so much from her (and not just about storytelling!]

Thank you, dear Dahlia, and thank you, readers, with roses and jasmine and sunshine! 

Thanks also to Dahlia's mom, Sawsan Hamza, who was so generous in checking the accuracy of everything and gifted me an authentic piece from the Tentmakers of Cairo! So so special!

And now, today's ArtSpeak: WOMEN poem. Next up on the Harper's Bazaar list is assemblage artist Betye Saar—another new-to-me artist! I was instantly drawn to her piece entitled "Anticipation," as it brought up for me some conflicting thoughts I've had about mindfulness and living in the present moment, namely that our instruction is not to be in the past or the future. But sometimes I really LOVE anticipation. Sometimes the anticipation is better than the actual thing! Or at least amplifies the thing. I don't know. I have found much more peace in my life by letting go of expectations, for sure. At the same time, I still enjoy the buzzy feeling of anticipation and am trying to focus on it (rather than sliding into worry or scripting something that will never actually happen and only lead to disappointment!).

For Your Information

Yes, anticipation is participation
in expectation—
For some, a celebration.
For others, an abomination.
My observation?
Anticipation is best
as pollination—

appreciation (not hyperventilation)
leads to more exhilaration,
less perspiration,
and (sometimes) intoxication
spiked with growing realization.
So. Won't you accept
this invitation
to take a vacation
from self-flagellation?
Give your anticipation
a standing ovation. Yes?

Yes! Congratulations!

- Irene Latham

Celebrating TWILIGHT with Marcie Flinchum Atkins!

Hello and Happy Poetry Friday! Be sure to visit Marcie for a WHEN TWILIGHT COMES Poetry Friday Roundup! It's an enchanting bit of loveliness, according to the starred Kirkus review. Of course it is; Marcie wrote it! I can't wait to get my copy in the mail.

Quick announcement: this week's Tuesday 2-Minute Writing Tip 32 "The Truth about Book Awards" shares some thoughts from my experience serving on multiple book award committees over the past decade. Enjoy!

When Marcie asked us all to flood the internet with images and poems about twilight, I immediately searched my computer files. I found some "twilight" poems, but even more "dusk" poems! Apparently, my poet-brain prefers "dusk." 

That discovery sent me on an internet search to find the difference between twilight and dusk. (Spoiler: dusk is simply one phase of twilight, defined by the degree to which the sun has set!) 

Then I searched my own files again for "sunrise" and "sunset" and found quite a few of both. Here's a small sampling. 

Poem Found in a Ditch at Dusk

Twilight Time

Impression (of a Sunrise)

Alabama Sunrise Trinet

Recipe for a Sunset

(Elephant) Dust Bath at Dusk (from Dear Wandering Wildebeest: And Other Poems from the Watering Hole by Irene Latham, illus. by Anna Wadham)

(Elephant) Dust Bath at Dusk

Dust Bath at Dusk


Trunks become
dust hoses,
beasts strike poses

and preen in silhouette
created by the late,
hazy screen.

Soon skin
is powdered
in a red-grit shower

that banishes bugs
and becomes next day's
sunscreen.

One final
wallow,
one last trumpet--

all clean!


- Irene Latham



"How to Catch a Poem" (featuring dusk-y fireflies and found in The Proper Way to Meet a Hedgehog: And Other How-To Poems selected by Paul B. Janeczko, illus. by Richard Jones). Confession: this is a favorite of my own poems!

How to Catch a Poem

Step into the trees 

on a summer night —

follow starshine 

and cricketsong.

Be still, keep quiet; 

watch for the flicker.

(No chasing,

let it come to you.)

Reach. Hold it in the safe 

cave of your fingers

until the wings tickle.

Marvel at the glow

                            then

let it go.

- Irene Latham

---

AND I decided to write a new twilight poem for this week's ArtSpeak: WOMEN...only it morphed as poems do...and again with "dusk!"

The art is by abstract expressionist Joan Mitchell.  I wanted to play with punctuation and repetition. Once again, I used the title of the piece (Blue Tree) as my jumping-off place. Thanks so much for reading! 

Mama Tree Teaches Little Tree / the Color of Time

See / Little Tree?

Dawn tree / pink tree

Noon tree / green tree

Dusk tree / blue tree

Sweet dreams / Little Tree!

- Irene Latham