2019 Kidlitosphere Progressive Poem: Sign Up Here!

Hello and Happy Poetry Friday! Be sure to visit lovely Linda at TeacherDance for Roundup.

I do have a poem for you today, but first let's take care of some important business:

It's that time again! National Poetry Month (April) will soon be upon us, which means it is time again to sign up for our annual KIDLITOSPHERE PROGRESSIVE POEM. This year -- our 8th year! -- our goal is to have fun with words, strengthen our community, and again create a poem for kids (our 3rd year with this specific focus!). The only thing I know about the poem so far is that the Voice of the Progressive Poem Matt Forrest will be launching our first line! The rest is up to all of YOU! I invite you to choose your day in comments, and I will update the calendar below as we go along. ETA: I have a school visit today, so I won't be able to update this page till later --  so for the moment, please refer to comments for what dates are available!

ETA: Our schedule is full! THANK YOU!

Here's how it works: Poetry Friday Friends and other poetry lovers are invited to join in a community writing experience during National Poetry Month (April).

What is it? a poem that travels daily from blog to blog, with each host adding a line, beginning April 1. Anyone who wants to join in the fun can sign up below. First come, first served. If you are new to the Progressive Poem, please include your email and blog url in comments -or- send via email: irene (at) irenelatham (dot) com.

April

1 Matt @ Radio, Rhythm and Rhyme

2 Kat @ Kathryn Apel

3 Kimberly @ KimberlyHutmacherWrites

4 Jone @ DeoWriter

5 Linda @ TeacherDance

6 Tara @ Going to Walden

7 Ruth @ thereisnosuchthingasagodforsakentown

8 Mary Lee @ A Year of Reading

9 Rebecca @ Rebecca Herzog

10 Janet F. @ Live Your Poem

11 Dani @ Doing the Work that Matters

12 Margaret @ Reflections on the Teche

13 Doraine @ Dori Reads

14 Christie @ Wondering and Wandering

15 Robyn @ Life on the Deckle Edge

16 Carol @ Beyond LiteracyLink

17 Amy @ The Poem Farm

18 Linda @ A Word Edgewise

19 Heidi @ my juicy little universe

20 Buffy @ Buffy's Blog

21 Michelle @ Michelle Kogan

22 Catherine @ Reading to the Core

23 Penny @ a penny and her jots

24 Tabatha @ The Opposite of Indifference

25 Jan @ Bookseestudio

26 Linda @ Write Time

27 Sheila @ Sheila Renfro

28 Liz @ Elizabeth Steinglass

29 Irene @ Live Your Poem

30 Donna @ Mainely Write
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And now for a poem... and a poem inspired by a poem.
First, the poem for March 1 from SING A SONG OF SEASONS, A Nature poem for Each Day of the Year selected by Fiona Waters, illustrated by Frann Preston-Gannon. (This book has become part of my daily morning reading routine!)

I am the Song

I am the song that sings the bird,
I an the leaf that grows the land.
I am the tide that moves the moon,
I am the scream that halts the sand.
I am the cloud that drives the storm.
I am the earth that lights the sun.
I am the fire that strikes the stone.
I am the clay that shapes the hand.
I am the word that speaks the man.
 - Charles Causley
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Don't you love the reversal of those verbs? Me too! I decided to try it myself, using my "lake life" as the focus. It reminds e of a poem I wrote for ARTSPEAK! back in 2017 in which I switched out nouns for more provocative adjectives (that describe the nouns). Click here to read "Morning." And here is today's offering:

Lake Life

I am morning slicing a kayak,

I am sky cuddling clouds.

I am waves painting the sun,

I am feathers gathering geese.

I am logs gnawing the beavers,

I am heat holding stacked boulders.

I am the shore kissing the current,

I am a ripple skimming dragonflies.

I am a lullaby singing the pines to sleep.

 - Irene Latham