Children's Publishing Blogs - Progressive Poem blog posts

Home > All Blogs > Tag > Progressive Poem

What is JacketFlap

JacketFlap connects you to the work of more than 200,000 authors, illustrators, publishers and other creators of books for Children and Young Adults. The site is updated daily with information about every book, author, illustrator, and publisher in the children's / young adult book industry. Members include published authors and illustrators, librarians, agents, editors, publicists, booksellers, publishers and fans.
Join now (it's free).

Sort Blog Posts

Sort Posts by:

in
from

Suggest a Blog

Enter a Blog's Feed URL below and click Submit:

Most Commented Posts

In the past 7 days

JacketFlap Sponsors

Spread the word about books.
Put this Widget on your blog!

Are you a book Publisher?
Learn about Widgets now!

Advertise on JacketFlap

MyJacketFlap Blogs

Login or Register for free to create your own customized page of blog posts from your favorite blogs. You can also add blogs by clicking the "Add to MyJacketFlap" links next to the blog name in each post.

Blog Posts by Tag

In the past 7 days

Blog Posts by Date

Click days in this calendar to see posts by day or month

new posts in all blogs

Viewing: Blog Posts Tagged with: Progressive Poem, Most Recent at Top [Help]

Results 1 - 7 of 7

1. The 2016 Progressive Poem is HERE!

By: Mary Lee, on 4/26/2016
Blog: A Year of Reading (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: Progressive Poem, Poetry Month 2016, Add a tag

It's been a little nerve-wracking to be the 27th poet to add a line to the 2016 Kidlitosphere Progressive Poem. I've peeked in on it a couple times a week since the first of the month, but I didn't want fall in love with the direction it was heading, knowing that the direction would certainly change. (And boy has it!!)

I'm glad I got a spot this year -- the schedule filled up fast! Here's who's added lines so far (and who will add after me):

2016 KIDLITOSPHERE PROGRESSIVE POEM

April
1 Laura at Writing the World for Kids
2 Joy at Joy Acey
3 Doraine at Dori Reads
4 Diane at Random Noodling

5 Penny at A Penny and Her Jots
6 Carol at Beyond LiteracyLink
7 Liz at Elizabeth Steinglass
8 Janet F. at Live Your Poem

9 Margaret at Reflections on the Teche
10 Pat at Writer on a Horse
11 Buffy at Buffy's Blog
12 Michelle at Today's Little Ditty

13 Linda at TeacherDance
14 Jone at Deo Writer
15 Matt at Radio, Rhythm & Rhyme
16 Violet at Violet Nesdoly

17 Kim at Flukeprints
18 Irene at Live Your Poem
19 Charles at Poetry Time
20 Ruth at There is No Such Thing as a Godforsaken Town

21 Jan at Bookseedstudio
22 Robyn at Life on the Deckle Edge
23 Ramona at Pleasures from the Page
24 Amy at The Poem Farm

25 Mark at Jackett Writes
26 Renee at No Water River
27 Mary Lee at Poetrepository
28 Heidi at My Juicy Little Universe

29 Sheila at Sheila Renfro
30 Donna at Mainely Write

The poem started off with some gorgeous images of birds and wishes, then the ocean and more wishes. A celebration of spring kept the spirit of the poem light in the third and fourth stanzas. In the fifth stanza, we took a short break from the earthly poem and rode Pegasus to the largest moon of Jupiter. The breeze returned with an offer for our speaker: "I give you flight!" What a gift! But the speaker suddenly gets cold feet in stanza seven, line one, at which point, Renee, in yesterday's line, "pushed her out of the plane."

Here's the poem:

A squall of hawk wings stirs the sky.
A hummingbird holds and then hies.
If I could fly, I’d choose to be
Sailing through a forest of poet-trees.

A cast of crabs engraves the sand
Delighting a child’s outstretched hand.
If I could breathe under the sea,
I’d dive, I’d dip, I’d dance with glee.

A clump of crocuses craves the sun.
Kites soar while joyful dogs run.
I sing to spring, to budding green,
to all of life – seen and unseen.

Wee whispers drift from cloud to ear
and finally reach one divining seer
who looks up from her perch and beams —
West Wind is dreaming May, it seems.

Golden wings open and gleam
as I greet the prancing team.
Gliding aside with lyrical speed,
I’d ride Pegasus to Ganymede.

To a pied pocket, the zephyr returns
blowing soft words the seer discerns
from earthbound voyage to dreamy night,
The time is now. I give you flight!

Yet I fear I am no kite or bird–
I lift! The world below me blurred

by tears of joy. I spiral high

0 Comments on The 2016 Progressive Poem is HERE! as of 4/27/2016 1:36:00 AM

Add a Comment

2. Poetry Friday - 2015 Progressive Poem: Day/Line 24

By: Tricia, on 4/23/2015
Blog: The Miss Rumphius Effect (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: Poetry Friday, National Poetry Month, progressive poem, Add a tag

Today is Day 24 of the 2015 Progressive Poem created and nurtured by the lovely Irene Latham. This project is a community writing experience where a poem travels daily from blog to blog, with each host adding a line. It began on April 1st and is nearing its end. I am happy to be participating for the very first time this year, though am bit intimidated by the form and subject. I'm really not a narrative poem kind of girl, or a free verse girl (not often anyway), so adding a line was a daunting task for me.

As the poem has moved from one poet to another, it has occasionally been reformatted. To date, no one has done the kind of work that my predecessor did, however! Tamera Wissinger's transformation of the line breaks is a thing of beauty. I've kept Tamera's version for those who want to see it carried on in this fashion. For those who need to see it in its "original" couplet form, I've got that too.

So, without further ado, here are both forms of the poem (same words, different breaks), with my line added to the end of each.

Version 1

She lives without a net,
walking along the alluvium of the delta.
Shoes swing over her shoulder,
on her bare feet stick
jeweled flecks of dark mica.
Hands faster than fish swing
at the ends of bare brown arms.
Her hair flows,

snows

in wild wind

as she digs
in the indigo varnished handbag,
pulls out her grandmother’s oval
cuffed bracelet,  strokes the turquoise stones, and steps
through the curved doorway.

Tripping

her

tail

she

slips

hair first
down
the
slide…
splash!
She glides past glossy water
hyacinth to shimmer with a school of shad,
listens to the ibises
roosting in the trees
of the cypress swamp

an echo

of Grandmother’s words, still fresh
in her windswept memory;

“Born from the oyster,

expect the pearl.

Reach for the rainbow

reflection on the smallest dewdrop.”

The surface glistens, a shadow

slips

above her head, a paddle

dips

she reaches, seizes. She’s electric energy
and turquoise eyes.
Lifted high, she gulps strange air – stares
clearly into  Green pirogue, crawfish trap, startled
fisherman with turquoise eyes, twins
of her own, riveted on her wrist–
She’s swifter than a dolphin,

slipping away,

leaving him only

a handful

of memories

of his own

grandmother’s counsel:

“Watch for her.

You’ll have but one chance

to  determine—

to decide. Garner wisdom from the water

and from the pearl

of the past.”

In a quicksilver flash,
an arc of resolution, he

leaps

into the shimmering water
where hidden sentries restrain
any pursuit and the bitter taste
of impulse rushes
into his lungs.
Her flipper flutters his weathered toes
– Pearl’s signal –
Stop struggling.
The Sentinels will escort you
He stills, closes his eyes,
takes an uncharacteristic breath of ...
water!
Released, he swims

Version 2
(Couplet Version)

She lives without a net, walking along the alluvium of the delta.
Shoes swing over her shoulder, on her bare feet stick jeweled flecks of dark mica.

Hands faster than fish swing at the ends of bare brown arms. Her hair flows,
snows in wild wind as she digs in the indigo varnished handbag,

pulls out her grandmother’s oval cuffed bracelet,
strokes the turquoise stones, and steps through the curved doorway.

Tripping on her tail she slips hair first down the slide… splash!
She glides past glossy water hyacinth to shimmer with a school of shad,

listens to the ibises roosting in the trees of the cypress swamp
an echo of Grandmother’s words, still fresh in her windswept memory.

Born from the oyster, expect the pearl.
Reach for the rainbow reflection on the smallest dewdrop.

The surface glistens, a shadow slips above her head, a paddle dips
she reaches, seizes. She’s electric energy and turquoise eyes.

Lifted high, she gulps strange air – stares clearly into
Green pirogue, crawfish trap, startled fisherman

with turquoise eyes, twins of her own, riveted on her wrist–
She’s swifter than a dolphin, slipping away, leaving him only a handful of

memories of his own grandmother’s counsel: Watch for her. You’ll have but one chance to
determine—to decide. Garner wisdom from the water and from the pearl of the past.

In a quicksilver flash, an arc of resolution, he leaps into the shimmering water
Where hidden sentries restrain any pursuit and the bitter taste of impulse rushes into his lungs

Her flipper flutters his weathered toes –Pearl’s signal–Stop struggling. The Sentinels will escort you

He stills, closes his eyes, takes an uncharacteristic breath of ... water! Released, he swims

Tabatha Yeatts is up next. I can't wait to see where she'll take us (and them!)

If you want to see how this poem has come together, you may want to begin at Day 1 and follow its evolution. Here is list of this year's participants with links to their posts.

2015 Kidlitosphere Progressive Poem
1 Jone at Check it Out
2 Joy at Poetry for Kids Joy
3 Heidi at My Juicy Little Universe
4 Laura at Writing the World for Kids
5 Charles at Poetry Time Blog
6 Ramona at Pleasures from the Page
7 Catherine at Catherine Johnson
8 Irene at Live Your Poem
9 Mary Lee at Poetrepository
10 Michelle at Today’s Little Ditty
11 Kim at Flukeprints
12 Margaret at Reflections on the Teche
13 Doraine at DoriReads
14 Renee at No Water River
15 Robyn at Life on the Deckle Edge
16 Ruth at There is No Such Thing as a Godforsaken Town
17 Buffy at Buffy’s Blog
18 Sheila at Sheila Renfro
19 Linda at Teacher Dance
20 Penny at A Penny and her Jots
21 Tara at A Teaching Life
22 Pat at Writer on a Horse
23 Tamera at The Writer’s Whimsy
24 Tricia at The Miss Rumphius Effect
25 Tabatha at The Opposite of Indifference
26 Brian at Walk the Walk
27 Jan at Bookseedstudio
28 Amy at The Poem Farm
29 Donna at Mainely Write
30 Matt at Radio, Rhythm & Rhyme

Thanks to Irene for organizing this event and for including me.

I do hope you'll take some time to check out all the wonderful poetic things being shared and collected today by Renee LaTulippe at No Water River. Happy poetry Friday friends!

0 Comments on Poetry Friday - 2015 Progressive Poem: Day/Line 24 as of 4/24/2015 1:57:00 AM

Add a Comment

3. 2015 Progressive Poem

By: Mary Lee, on 4/9/2015
Blog: A Year of Reading (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: Progressive Poem, Add a tag

Welcome to latest installment of the 2015 Progressive Poem! I'm going to honor the changes Irene, our fearless leader, made to the layout. She writes,

"You'll notice a couple of changes in this version of our poem. Jone's first line has been edited slightly, at Jone's request. (She and Joy decided "deposits" was redundant.) Also, I've broken the lines into couplets (one way to add white space to long lines."

I'm a flatlander from the arid prairies of eastern Colorado. I know nothing about deltas, let alone mermaids. This will be a stretch for my imagination! Excuse me for a minute while I go do some research!

...I hope Irene won't mind if I change her period to a comma! I'll leave my line unpunctuated for Michelle (Today's Little Ditty) to do with as she will!

She lives without a net, walking along the alluvium of the delta.
Shoes swing over her shoulder, on her bare feet stick jeweled flecks of dark mica.

Hands faster than fish swing at the ends of bare brown arms. Her hair flows,
snows in wild wind as she digs in the indigo varnished handbag,

pulls out her grandmother's oval cuffed bracelet,
strokes the turquoise stones, and steps through the curved doorway.

Tripping on her tail she slips hair first down the slide... splash!
She glides past glossy water hyacinth to shimmer with a school of shad,

listens to the ibises roosting in the trees of the cypress swamp

0 Comments on 2015 Progressive Poem as of 4/9/2015 10:18:00 AM

Add a Comment

4. 2015 Progressive Poem

By: Mary Lee, on 4/6/2015
Blog: A Year of Reading (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: Progressive Poem, Add a tag

I need to start getting ready to add my line!

1 Jone at Check it Out

2 Joy at Poetry for Kids Joy

3 Heidi at My Juicy Little Universe

4 Laura at Writing the World for Kids

5 Charles at Poetry Time Blog

6 Ramona at Pleasures from the Page

7 Catherine at Catherine Johnson

8 Irene at Live Your Poem

9 Mary Lee at Poetrepository

10 Michelle at Today's Little Ditty

11 Kim at Flukeprints

12 Margaret at Reflections on the Teche

13 Doraine at DoriReads

14 Renee at No Water River

15 Robyn at Life on the Deckle Edge

16 Ruth at There is No Such Thing as a Godforsaken Town

17 Buffy at Buffy's Blog

18 Sheila at Sheila Renfro

19 Linda at Teacher Dance

20 Penny at A Penny and her Jots

21 Tara at A Teaching Life

22 Pat at Writer on a Horse

23 Tamera at The Writer's Whimsy

24 Tricia at The Miss Rumphius Effect

25 Tabatha at The Opposite of indifference

26 Brian at Walk the Walk

27 Jan at Bookseedstudio

28 Amy at The Poem Farm

29 Donna at Mainely Write

30 Matt at Radio, Rhythm & Rhyme

0 Comments on 2015 Progressive Poem as of 1/1/1900

Add a Comment

5. 2014 Kidlitosphere Progressive Poem.12

By: Mary Lee, on 4/11/2014
Blog: A Year of Reading (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: Progressive Poem, Poetry Month 2014, Kidlitosphere, Add a tag

I've peeked in on our poem as it germinated and sprouted, but I tried not to pay too much attention so I'd be ready with an open mind when my turn came. I think you'll be as surprised by my line as I was!

You can check the sidebar to learn which poet from around the Kidlitosphere wrote which line so far. Thank you, Irene (Live Your Poem) for organizing this fun collaboration!

The emotional roller coaster early in the poem seems to have leveled out. Our speaker seems more confident and ready for the journey. The journey of a lifetime, perhaps.

Without further ado, the poem with my line added:

Sitting on a rock, airing out my feelings to the universe
Acting like a peacock, only making matters that much worse;
Should I trumpet like an elephant emoting to the moon,
Or just ignore the warnings written in the rune?
Those stars can’t seal my future; it’s not inscribed in stone.
The possibilities are endless! Who could have known?
Gathering courage, spiral like an eagle after prey
Then gird my wings for whirlwind gales in realms far, far away.
But, hold it! Let's get practical! What's needed before I go?
Time to be tactical— I'll ask my friends what I should stow.
And in one breath, a honeyed word whispered low— dreams —

Whose voice? I turned to see. I was shocked. Irene's?

0 Comments on 2014 Kidlitosphere Progressive Poem.12 as of 4/12/2014 4:03:00 AM

Add a Comment

6. The Progressive Poem's denouement!

By: Carmela Martino and 5 other authors, on 4/30/2013
Blog: Teaching Authors (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: National Poetry Month, poets, children's poems, writing poetry, poem a day challenge, April Halprin Wayland, poetry prompt, writing exercise, Progressive Poem, Add a tag

.
Howdy Campers!

Remember to enter to win in our 4 x 4 Blogiversary Celebration!

Today I have the absolute honor and (as Esther would say) knee-buckling responsibility to write the last line of 2013's Progressive Poem. Yay! And yikes!

The brainchild of Irene Latham, this Progressive Poem has been moving from blog to blog, growing poet by poet, for 29 days until it's come here for one final line. For the poem and a list of contributing poets, see below.
.

At the end of a month posting rough drafts of poems about dogs, I think you could say that this, too, is a rough draft. As Laura Puride Salas says, it's poetry improv. Yes, and a poetry game. It's been fascinating to read the process of those who've proceeded me.

When I got the line by Denise Mortensen, it's such a great line, I thought I should just write THE END. Then I could talk about how a poet needs to know when to quit and when a good line's a good ending. That would be funny. If only I had the courage!

But I don't. So off we go!

Here is the list of the poets who each contributed a line (in this space, some appear to be a line and then some, but they are all really one line each), and below their names is the (yikes!) finished poem. Take a bow, poets!

.
DAY/LINE + POET

1 Amy Ludwig VanDerwater
2 Joy Acey
3 Matt Forrest Esenwine
4 Jone MacCulloch
5 Doraine Bennett
6 Gayle Krause
7 Janet Fagal
8 Julie Larios
9 Carrie Finison
10 Linda Baie
11 Margaret Simon
12 Linda Kulp
13 Catherine Johnson
14 Heidi Mordhorst
15 Mary Lee Hahn
16 Liz Steinglass
17 Renee LaTulippe
18 Penny Klostermann
19 Irene Latham
20 Buffy Silverman
21 Tabatha Yeatts
22 Laura Shovan
23 Joanna Marple
24 Katya Czaja
25 Diane Mayr
26 Robyn Hood Black
27 Ruth Hersey
28 Laura Purdie Salas
29 Denise Mortensen
30 April Halprin Wayland

P.T. BARNUM'S GREAT TRAVELING MUSEUM, MENAGERIE, CARAVAN, AND HIPPODROME*
by Thirty Poets on a mission in the Kidlitosphere...see list above

When you listen to your footsteps
the words become music and
the rhythm that you’re rapping gets your fingers tapping, too.
Your pen starts dancing across the page
a private pirouette, a solitary samba until
smiling, you’re beguiling as your love comes shining through.

Pause a moment in your dreaming, hear the whispers
of the words, one dancer to another, saying
Listen, that’s our cue! Mind your meter. Find your rhyme.
Ignore the trepidation while you jitterbug and jive.
Arm in arm, toe to toe, words begin to wiggle and flow
as your heart starts singing let your mind keep swinging

from life’s trapeze, like a clown on the breeze.
Swinging upside down, throw and catch new sounds–
Take a risk, try a trick; break a sweat: safety net?
Don’t check! You’re soaring and exploring,
dangle high, blood rush; spiral down, crowd hush–
limb-by-line-by-limb envision, pyramidic penned precision.

And if you should topple, if you should flop
if your meter takes a beating; your rhyme runs out of steam—
know this tumbling and fumbling is all part of the act,
so get up with a flourish. Your pencil’s still intact.
Snap those synapses! Feel the pulsing through your pen
Commit, measure by measure, to the coda’s cadence.

You've got them now--in the palm of your hand!
Finger by finger you’re reeling them in—
Big Top throng refrains from cheering, strains to hear the poem nearing…
Inky paws, uncaged, claw straw and sawdust
Until… CRACK! You’re in the center ring, mind unleashed, your words take wing--
they circle, soar, then light in the lap of an open-mouthed child; the crowd goes wild.

* * * * * * *

* Barnum's circus was originally called "P.T. Barnum's Great Traveling Museum, Menagerie, Caravan, and Hippodrome," which is pretty much what our poem is. ("Greatest Show on Earth" was added later...that's us, too!)

It never hurts to join forces...

...ask all the thirsty pooches at the dog park!

Let's play some more!

Hey--where'd everybody go???

G'bye to Poetry Month 2013! See you next year!

Posted by April Halprin Wayland

28 Comments on The Progressive Poem's denouement!, last added: 5/3/2013

Display Comments

Joanna said, on 4/30/2013 2:11:00 AM

What a fabulous finale, April! And what a celebration.

Mary Lee said, on 4/30/2013 3:13:00 AM

Love that it ends in the lap of a child (subconscious connection to your doggy drafts?!?!)!!

Huzzah! What fun to have been a part of this creation!

catherinemjohnson said, on 4/30/2013 3:24:00 AM

Super ending! What a fun event this has been.

Renee LaTulippe said, on 4/30/2013 4:02:00 AM

TA-DAAAAAH! I admit I rather loved your idea of writing THE END (ha!), but I'm so glad you didn't. This is the perfect ending, words twirling to a child, which is what we're here for.

THE CROWD GOES WILD! Yay, us!

Ruth said, on 4/30/2013 4:27:00 AM

Nice! Let's do it again next year!

Irene Latham said, on 4/30/2013 4:29:00 AM

April, I love it!!! In the lap of a child, exactly where we want it to be. Love that wordy title too. Thank you THANK YOU, everyone who made this year so much fun. xo

Matt Forrest Esenwine said, on 4/30/2013 4:29:00 AM

Wow, we went from music and dancing to singing and dreaming to swinging and tumbling...the crowd does, indeed, go wild! Well done!

Diane Mayr said, on 4/30/2013 5:01:00 AM

What can I say? the crowd goes wild is a wonderful way to go out!

Denise Mortensen said, on 4/30/2013 5:05:00 AM

Bravo! Take a bow! With all of the action centered around the writer, it all comes to a fitting end in the lap of a child, which is just perfect! I can hear the blogosphere clapping!

Linda at teacherdance said, on 4/30/2013 5:17:00 AM

I think at the end of a beautiful act, I should say 'encore', yet you've ended the poem so lovingly, April, right where it should be, with a child. Class act!

KateCoombs said, on 4/30/2013 5:26:00 AM

This poem came together so wonderfully well all along the way. Perfect ending, April!

Robyn Hood Black said, on 4/30/2013 8:22:00 AM

Yes, Bravo, April! The perfect ending for an over-the-(big)-top creation, chronicling both secret musings and spectacle, is with a child reader. clap*clap*clap

Carmela Martino said, on 4/30/2013 8:25:00 AM

Like others, I love that it ends in a child's lap, too. Great ending to a terrific poem! Congratulations to all the participants.

laurasalas said, on 4/30/2013 8:30:00 AM

Wonderful ending, April! (I would not have wanted that knee-buckling responsibility.) Brava!

April Halprin Wayland said, on 4/30/2013 8:53:00 AM

Yay for our whole pack--it truely takes a village!

Liz Steinglass said, on 4/30/2013 9:05:00 AM

It's already been said, but I'll say it again, the perfect ending in the lap of the child with the crowd going wild.

Buffy Silverman said, on 4/30/2013 9:28:00 AM

The crowd goes wild for your ending, April. Well done! I laughed at your impulse to write the end--just let those awesome words wing away. That would have been grand, but I'm glad you brought them to a child's lap.

storypatch said, on 4/30/2013 1:50:00 PM

Excellent! The ending couldn't be more perfect. Very nicely done!

reflectionsontheteche said, on 4/30/2013 3:05:00 PM

Yay for us! Love the title. Let's twirl some words together again sometime. It's been fun!

Annis Cassells said, on 4/30/2013 5:15:00 PM

Bravo! What fun. xoA

Author Amok said, on 4/30/2013 5:33:00 PM

Best poem title ever!

Heidi Mordhorst said, on 4/30/2013 6:04:00 PM

STOMP STOMP CLAP! STOMP STOMP CLAP! Leave the whole show in a little kid's lap!
Somehow it all came together, and anchorwoman April did the heavy lifting. Thanks, Irene, for instigating, and to all who played along. Poetry improv indeed.

April Halprin Wayland said, on 4/30/2013 8:49:00 PM

I'm sure you all felt this with each line: all I can say is, WHEW! ("It's just a POEM,Honey...")

Felt like I was in the March Madness Poetry Tournament all over again...
xxx

Carol said, on 5/1/2013 3:14:00 AM

I loved watching this unfold! Couldn't believe how people could make the poem hang together, day after day, not only with meaning, but with meter. Like so many others, I love your ending. Also absolutely love the title! Perfect!

Michelle Heidenrich Barnes said, on 5/1/2013 5:07:00 AM

What a satisfying ending, April! And what an amazing team effort. It's a wonder I don't have a tummy ache from all the cotton candy, but what an awesome month at the circus!

Amy Ludwig VanDerwater said, on 5/1/2013 2:38:00 PM

This could not have been a better ending! I love it, and I loved this month. Thank you, poetry friends. xo, a.

Penny Klostermann said, on 5/2/2013 6:45:00 AM

April,
I went over to Teaching Author's to read today's post and couldn't resist another run through the Progressive Poem. I saw that my comment didn't come through on the 30th! Weird! Anyway, I will just say again how perfectly you ended our poem I just love your line! In fact, I'm going wild over it!

April Halprin Wayland said, on 5/2/2013 11:27:00 PM

Thank you, Penny and everyone for your comments! Now that Poetry Month is over and we're winding down, we can all actually read more poetry!

Add a Comment

7. 2012 KidLit Progressive Poem