Friday, March 1, 2019

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
2 Kat @ Kathryn Apel
4 Jone @ DeoWriter
5 Linda @ TeacherDance
6 Tara @ Going to Walden
8 Mary Lee @ A Year of Reading
9 Rebecca @ Rebecca Herzog
10 Janet F. @ Live Your Poem
13 Doraine @ Dori Reads
17 Amy @ The Poem Farm
18 Linda @ A Word Edgewise
20 Buffy @ Buffy's Blog
21 Michelle @ Michelle Kogan
22 Catherine @ Reading to the Core
25 Jan @ Bookseestudio
26 Linda @ Write Time
27 Sheila @ Sheila Renfro
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

70 comments:

  1. I'm looking forward to being a part of this in 2019! Please put me down for April 27th!.

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    1. You got it! Thank you! Glad to have you back. :)

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  2. I'll take April 14th if it's free! -- Christie @ https://wonderingandwondering.wordpress.com

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    1. Christie, so glad you'll be joining us! xo

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    2. So excited! Participating for my first time last year was such an adrenaline rush. Almost passed out when I hit "publish" on my day! LOL! xx -- Christie

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  3. Please make me last this year. I would like to have April 30, please.

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  4. Love both poems, but especially your take. I would love to participate in the progressive poem this year. I'll take April 3rd.
    kimberlyhutmachersells at gmail dot com. https://kimberlyhutmacherwrites.blogspot.com/

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    1. Kimberly, so glad to have you with us on this journey. Thank you! xo

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  5. Ooh, me me me! How about April 7th?

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  6. P.S. I love both "Morning" and "Lake Life" and the way you've played with the grammar. Lovely!

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  7. Donna is so brave!! (Any date is fine with me, I suppose! You can wait and give me whatever is left or I can pick xo)
    I especially like the clay that shapes the hand, the sky cuddling the clouds, feathers gathering geese, and logs gnawing beavers.

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    1. I'm thinking that I'll be done with the AtoZ Challenge and will have time to just go with the flow - structure and format will be pretty much solid, and the ending might even be obvious...? Lol!... Though it never HAS been!

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    2. Tabatha, please go ahead a pick a date, any date. :) Love! xo

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    3. Thank you, Tab! 24th is yours. xo

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  8. April 18th for me, please!
    I really do like Lake Life. the cuddling, kissing, gathering, singing....all such loving ways and manners of the lake. This is a great Earth Day poem if you haven't already thought of that.

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  9. I love the Causley poem, Irene, & your lovely version of it, especially that "waves painting the sun". Having lived on a lake long ago, your poem brings wonderful memories. As for the Progressive Poem, I'll take April 5th, please. Thanks again for doing this, always a delight in April!

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    1. Thank you, LInda! Got you for the 5th! YAY! xo

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  10. Irene, your lake life poem is dreamy with its gorgeous photo and descriptive lines. Thanks for sharing a mentor text, "I am the Song".
    As for the Progressive Poem, thank you for organizing it again. I would like Tuesday, April 16th.

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  11. Carol, got you down for the 16th. Thank you! xo

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  12. Oh! So glad I didn't miss this!!! Can I be brave and take Day2, please? (Well, it's feeling brave and risky to me!😂) I think it will be fun to follow on from Matt and help set the tone for things...

    And love your poetry exercise. You've tempted me to try one...

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    1. Kat, the 2nd is yours! Thank you! And yes, please try... and share! Would love to read. xo

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    2. I paused and took a note of my surrounds, as I was writing late into the night, and this is what I came up with... xx

      Night Writer

      I am glow that lights the warmth.
      I am the stillness that breaks the creaks.
      I am the arms that chill the breeze.
      I am the fingers that halt the pause.
      I am the glasses that peer through the eyes.
      I am the clock of the tick-tock telling time;
      ..............................................Goodnight.

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    3. Kat, I LOVE THIS! That clock line especially! Thank you. xo

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    4. Oh few. I started tying myself up in knots, and didn't know if I'd ended up achieving what I'd set out to do. It was a lovely writing activity, though - and I will definitely try it again! Thank-you.

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  13. Just. Gorgeous. I love your poem, Irene. And I have had this book on my list for some time. Now to order it! xx

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    1. Yes, Amy, much to love in this anthology... you will enjoy it! xo

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  14. I love the verb reversals in both poems! My favorite of yours is the ripple skimming dragonflies!

    I'll take April 8. I'd love to follow Ruth!

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    1. I was going to say I love that line, too! All 3 poems are great examples of how to be creative with ones use of nouns and verbs, and the fact that one's words needn't be locked in to a particular part of speech when writing poetry! And thanks for asking me to kick off the poem this year, Irene...I'm looking forward to it!

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    2. Mary Lee, the date is yours! And Matt, I am looking forward to your start as well. :)

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  15. Cor blimey! Almost too much post to take in, Irene!
    This is not just wordplay (which you know I love) but CONCEPTplay, which is even more delicious. "heat holding stacked boulders; ripple skimming dragonflies" yes!

    May I take April 19? Linda M and I are a good team! (and also I will finally be on Spring Break)

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  16. Also, Irene, I hope you will join me on March 15 in supporting the teens who are organizing the Youth Climate Strike, both at mjlu with a climate poem or post and maybe at the Alabama State House?

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  17. Thanks for the invitation, Heidi! I'll see what I can do. xo

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  18. Hi Irene If March 21st is open I’d like this date—looking forward to where this poem may take us...

    Thanks for sharing this seasonal poetry book, I’ll have to look for it. In your poem, I liked your lines about the beaver and closing line “a lullaby singing the pines to sleep,” such a calming and inviting thought. I’ve been reading “Poem Crazy” and your poem and post all fit in snugly together with this book! Thanks for all, xo

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    1. Michelle, did you mean April 21 ?? I'll put you down. xo

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  19. List me as another fan of this line, Irene: "ripple skimming dragonflies", and your love take on the poem. I'll sign on for the 6th., if that's available.

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  20. I’ll take April 13. And I love both poems. Such creative reversals.

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  21. Love your lake I am poem. I want to use it for a mentor text with my kids. Thanks.

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  22. Oh my goodness, Irene. I agree with Heidi about the richness of this post! "I Am the Song" is wonderful, but I adore your "Lake Life" with its "lullaby singing the pines to sleep." This is a form I'm looking forward to playing with!

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  23. Hi Irene, is April 26 still open? If so may I have it? Thanks! Your "Lake Life" makes miss the house we had to downsize from which was near a lake. I loved watching the deer and seeing the sky reflected in the lake. xo

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  24. Linda, yes, the 26th is yours! Glad I could remind you of a loved place. xo

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  25. HI Irene! So glad that I didn't miss the sign up this year! Could you put me down for the 9th, please? Also, the amazing Sheila Renfro is in my critique group here in FL! Small world. :)

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  26. Yes! How cool that you know Sheila, whom I adore! the 9th is yours. :)

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  27. Is the 4th still open? I can't believe I missed this AGAIN! I thought you were announcing today. I'll take whatever is available.

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  28. Hi Irene,
    I tried to post but don't see it here. Is April 10 still open? Can you still....host me? Thanks as always for all of this.
    Janet

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  29. Now, to tell you how much I love your post and the poems with the reversing verbs. Definitely something I would want to use with my students. And will. These lines pull me in: I am shore kissing the current/ I am a ripple skimming dragonflies.

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  30. Thank you for rounding up all of us, Irene, especially folks like me who almost missed it because she wasn't paying attention - eek! Is the 15th still open? :0) XO

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  31. Hi Friend. I will take the 17th if it is still open. xxxx

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    1. yay! Amy's in the house! Got you down, you lovely poet you. xo

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  32. Appreciations Irene.
    Will return to soak up all the goodness of this post. Feeling APRIL TWENTY calling me - please say 'tis mine?
    Hope so!
    Many thanks

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  33. Hi Irene,
    I would like April 20 if it's still available. Thanks for organizing the fun again!
    Buffy

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  34. Hi Irene, I'll take any open spot if you still have one!

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  35. I'll take March 20 if it's still available. Thanks for organizing us again!

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  36. I thought I had already commented. I’ll take any date that is left if there are any. Thanks!

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