Progressive Poem 2024

I’m very excited to help create a new Progressive Poem with my friends from Poetry Friday. See the list of poets below.

The rules:
The poem passes from blog to blog 
Each poet-blogger adds a line. 
The poem is for children. 
Other than that, anything goes.
Each blogger will copy the previous line exactly as written (unless permission from the previous poet is obtained) and add their line, offering commentary on their process if they wish.

Patricia and Jone have provided a beautiful and evocative beginning. How could I move it forward? First I began wondering where the visions of earth and moon were coming from–who is watching? Perhaps a child in their room, waking up, and beginning their day?

But there seemed something bigger was going on. The words “clinging to tender dreams of peace,” in the first lines, and the moon singing hope in the next, brought me to think someone’s courage might be being tested. But whose? 

PROGRESSIVE POEM 2024

cradled in stars, our planet sleeps,

clinging to tender dreams of peace

sister moon watches from afar

singing lunar lullabies of hope.

MY NEW LINES:

almost dawn. I walk with others,

keeping close, my little brother.

Leigh Anne Eck takes it from here.

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

11 thoughts on “Progressive Poem 2024”

  2. Thanks for introducing a child character…just what was needed. And little brother, too.

  4. I enjoyed reading your thoughts at the beginning, Janice, and now you’ve brought in some characters, on an adventure? I love the voice, too!

  8. Well, well. Putting together the testing of courage with the keeping close of little brother, the walking with others…
    Janice, I believe you would like us to consider the experience of a war child, a climate refugee, a migrant. Hooray for no blithe adventure. Let us also be brave in our writing.💕

  9. Janice, beautiful! It does sound like these two and the others are on an adventure where they have to be brave. I do hope we all will be brave, too, as Heidi mentions.

  10. Yes, to courage and a little brother in tow. You have brought in a character who will need defining and a story to unfold. I am behind in reading so catching up. Not sure everyone is reading the comments, though. We will see where we go, always an interesting twist or turn depending on the poet and their interpretation. One thing I have thought of is that if I like a certain spot and feel the poem is speaking to me I think, hmmm maybe I can work on this as I see it unfolding and then see where this group of poets takes us……I like the couplets this time.

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