THE PROGRESSIVE POEM 2026 IS HERE!

Happy Easter!

Today it is my turn to move this poem forward on our journey through the land of poetry.

Thank you Tabatha for the lovely picture to help us imagine where we are going. And thank you to Irene Latham for beginning this yearly NPM tradition on Poetry Friday.

Donna Smith’s line:

“birding for words shimmering, flecked in golden gilding”

added sparkle to this journey through the Land of Poetry. She also embellished the map, inviting poets to add to it if they wish. Hardy Harbor? How about Coleridge Cove? So many possibilities, but I found myself busy enough coming up with a fifth line. Yikes! Every year it’s a challenge.

First, some punctuation.

Patricia Franz’s third line had ended in an exclamation point, so I restored it, which made “birding” the beginning of a new sentence. So I capitalized “Birding.” I hope that’s OK, Donna.

Intrigued by the introduction of birding, here’s my addition:

On my first trip to the Land of Poetry,
I saw anthologies of every color, tall as buildings.
A world of words, wonder on wings, waiting just for me!
Birding for words shimmering, flecked in golden gilding,

binoculars ready, I toured boulevards and side streets

Denise Krebs will take it from here. Bon Voyage! Feel free to punctuate my fifth line in whatever way you need to.

You can follow along at these websites:

April 1 Tabatha Yeatts at The Opposite of Indifference

April 2 Cathy Stenquist at A Little Bit of This and That

April 3 Patricia Franz at Reverie

April 4 Donna Smith at Mainely Write

April 5 Janice Scully at Salt City Verse

April 6 Denise Krebs at Dare to Care

April 7 Ruth Hersey at There is no such thing as a God-forsaken town

April 8 Rose Cappelli at Imagine the Possibilities

April 9 Margaret Simon at Reflections on the Teche

April 10 Janet Clare Fagel at Reflections on the Teche

April 11 Diane Davis at Starting Again in Poetry

April 12 Linda Baie at Teacher Dance

April 13 Linda Mitchell at Another Word Edgewise

April 14 Jone MacCulloch at Jone MacCulloch.com

April 15 Joyce Uglow at Storied Ink

April 16 Carol Varsalona at Beyond Literacy Link

April 17 Robyn Hood Black at Life on the Deckle Edge

April 18 Michele Kogan at More Art for All

April 19 Kim Johnson at Common Threads

April 20 Buffy Silverman at Buffy Silverman

April 21 Irene Latham at Live Your Poem

April 22 Karen Edmisten at Karen Edmisten

April 23 Heidi Mordhorst at my juicy little universe

April 24 Mary Lee Hahn at A(nother) Year of Reading

April 25 Tanita Davis at fiction, instead of lies

April 26 Sharon Roy at Pedaling Poet

April 27 Tracey Kiff-Judson at Tangles and Tails

April 28 TBD

April 29 TBD

April 30 TBD 

Haiku: National Poetry Month

Welcome to Poetry Friday! This week we are hosted by our friend, author, and poet Irene Latham HERE. Thank you, Irene!

I’ve been celebrating NPM by writing a haiku and sharing it on Facebook each day. I find an haiku a day doable and it also keeps me paying attention to the beauty I see around me every day. I also have found poems in my photo library and using them to inspire a poem. Here are my first four haiku..

April 1

With springtime comes mud,
clouds, rainstorms, even snow squalls.
But then . . . daffodils.

© Janice Scully 2024

April 2

AT THE SAN FRANCISCO BOTANICAL GARDENS

From South Africa
proud and tall King Proteus
on an American tour.

© Janice Scully 2024

April 3

Penning a poem
on a rainy spring morning--
question: which is which?

© Janice Scully 2024

April 4

REFRACTION

White light is a mix
of many different colors--
and so, the rainbow.

© Janice Scully 2024

I look forward to the next line of the Progressive Poem, soon to be revealed by Irene Latham on her blog Live Your Poem . Thank you Margaret Simon for organizing it. It’s really fun to see the poem develop each day. Below is a list of poets to help you follow along during National Poetry Month.

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 at A Word Edgewise
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 Donna Smith at Mainly Write
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