Community Poetry Projects (because Poetry is for Everyone)

 Hello and Happy Poetry Friday! 

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It occurs to me that our Poetry Friday Roundup is a Community Poetry Project. 

So is our annual KidLit Progressive Poem, which began in 2012 as a way to celebrate National Poetry Month (April) as a community of writers.

The latest line in our Progressive Poem is here today. Yay! Thanks to Margaret for organizing and creating the beautiful graphic...and to the lovely poets who've gotten us off to such a great start! 

I'm honored to add the fifth line, which in keeping with the pattern established by Patricia, Jone, Janice, and Leigh Anne, is actually a couplet. 

I felt like it was time to break up the established pattern and infuse some urgency and immediacy...the best way I know to do that is to get into the speaker of the poem's body, so that the reader feels like they, too, are experiencing this refugee's journey. 

cradled in stars, our planet sleeps,

    clinging to tender dreams of peace

sister moon watches from afar,
    singing lunar lullabies of hope.

almost dawn, I walk with others,
    keeping close, my little brother.

hand in hand, we carry courage

    escaping closer to the border.

My feet are lightning;

My heart is thunder.

Here is the schedule for the rest of the month. I pass the baton to Margaret. I can't wait to read what happens next!

April 1 Patricia Franz at Reverie
April 2 Jone MacCulloch
April 3 Janice Scully at Salt City Verse
April 4 Leigh Anne Eck at A Day in the Life
April 5 Irene at Live Your Poem
April 6 Margaret at Reflections on the Teche
April 7 Marcie Atkins
April 8 Ruth at There is No Such Thing as a God Forsaken Town
April 9 Karen Eastlund
April 10 Linda Baie at Teacher Dance
April 11 Buffy Silverman
April 12 Linda Mitchell
April 13 Denise Krebs at Dare to Care
April 14 Carol Varsalona at Beyond Literacy Link
April 15 Rose Cappelli at Imagine the Possibilities
April 16 Sarah Grace Tuttle
April 17 Heidi Mordhorst at my juicy little universe
April 18 Tabatha at Opposite of Indifference
April 19 Catherine Flynn at Reading to the Core
April 20 Tricia Stohr-Hunt at The Miss Rumphius Effect
April 21 Janet, hosted here at Reflections on the Teche
April 22 Mary Lee Hahn at A(nother) Year of Reading
April 23 Tanita Davis at (fiction, instead of lies)
April 24 Molly Hogan at Nix the Comfort Zone
April 25 Joanne Emery at Word Dancer
April 26 Karin Fisher-Golton at Still in Awe
April 27
April 28 Dave at Leap of Dave
April 29 Robyn Hood Black at Life on the Deckle Edge
April 30 Michelle Kogan at More Art for All

Today I'm excited to share with all of you pics of my most recent public community poetry project here in Blount County, Alabama...to which so many of you have contributed! So many thanks to those who sent poems. 

At the time of this posting we have poems from 28 poets from all across the US, including AL, CA, CO, CT, MA, MD, MI, NC, PA, TX, UT, VA... + AUSTRALIA and CANADA! THANK YOU, POETS! Here is a photo of the bulletin board. Isn't it adorable??

I also posted this week over at Smack Dab in the Middle, about writers being rooted in poetry, in words, and in the present moment... if you'd like a dose of inspiration from me, Walt Whitman, and Mary Oliver!

And now for this week's ArtSpeak: FOLK ART poem. This is one of those poems that sort of wrote itself...and I followed along. I love when that happens!! The work of art is part of the collection at the American Folk Art Museum (and appears in the post card book given me by Charles Waters). Thanks so much for reading.

Prayer

my heart is not on my sleeve
your heart is not in my hands
my hands do not hold the world
nor do yours

we are small
we are travelers

let us hold each other
my heart your heart
sleeves or no sleeves
hands or no hands

we are pilgrims
in a world made mostly of water
somehow we walk  feast   love
in bodies made mostly of water

together let us flow

- Irene Latham

For your reading pleasure, here are links to a few other "prayer" poems I've written and shared at Live Your Poem. Thanks so much for reading!

A Writer's Prayer

Autumn Prayer

Winter Prayer

Prayer for the Berry Pickers

Prayer of the Black Rocks

Epitaph for Light

Fair Prayer

For the Builders

I Give Thanks for Trussville, Alabama

I Pledge Allegiance to the Lake

Let Us Now Praise Leafy Things

Mending

If you want to make me happy

Vespers

When Moon Sweeps Sky Clean of Clouds