Last Line of this year's Progressive Poem

The 2025 Progressive Poem

Ends Here!

Howdy, Campers, and welcome!

As Linda Baie wrote (exclamation marks and all): “Irene Latham began the Progressive Poem and hosted it from 2012-2019. Those archives of the poem can be found HERE! Margaret Simon took over
in 2020, and those archives are HERE!”

The rules: 1) The poem passes from blog to blog. 2) Each poet/blogger adds a line. 3) The poem is for children.

Here are some juicy quotes from Heidi Mordhorst’s March 29, 2018 interview with Irene Latham and Liz Steinglass about each Progressive Poem's team over the years:

Irene: People may come with some idea of where they would like to take it, but also an understanding that it may not go there at all.

Liz: And I think this exercise can be a reminder to let go, relinquish control, and see where things go.

Heidi: It’s a situation of “trust without danger,” isn’t it, and the reason I think that most of us (even though many of us who want to write tend to write by ourselves and it IS hard to give up ownership), can do it in this case because there’s really no stakes. It’s just for fun, it’s to play, and if things don’t go quite the way we expected, we just step back and say, “Oooh, that’s so interesting!”

Irene: I will tell you that some people take it very seriously, talk about how they couldn’t sleep the night before their line, and I think people really want to bring their best and that they really love the positive feedback. That’s a good thing in our community, being encouragers and cheerleaders of each other’s efforts, and you know you’re going to get that, but you also want to be the person who brings some really cool word to the poem, turns it in a new direction, but that’s why we’re here: to encourage each other! That’s why people invest in it, because they want that—being pushed by the community to bring their best to it.

........................................
Confession: I'm one of this year's participants who've lost sleep over it.

Can I say how much I love the line Linda Mitchell chose to start the poem? It makes me want to open my windows wide.

I began wondering...could I repeat Linda's first line as the last line? Would it work with the mystery line coming my way? If it does...our poem would be an envelope poem! (There are several definitions of envelope poes. Here's my post which includes a Writing Workout towards the end about envelope poems)

When Deborah Davis' evocative 29th line flew onto our poem, I began playing with the rhythm of her line. In trying to emulate her rhythm, I looked up the word April in different languages. The Finnish word sounded promising: huhtikuu (hooth-teek-koo) Until it didn't.

Instead, I found inspiration in Linda Baie's line (4th-from-the-end). And the rest is history.

........................................

And now, drum roll, please...

photo by Nguyen Tuan Hung from pixabay

Here, without further ado, is our CPP-2025 (Complete Progressive Poem of 2025):

Open an April window
let sunlight paint the air
stippling every dogwood
dappling daffodils with flair

Race to the garden
where woodpeckers drum
as hummingbirds thrum
in the blossoming Sweetgum

Sing as you set up the easels
dabble in the paints
echo the colors of lilac and phlox
commune without constraints

Breathe deeply the gifts of lilacs
rejoice in earth’s sweet offerings
feel renewed-give thanks at day’s end
remember long-ago springs

Bask in a royal spring meadow
romp like a golden-doodle pup!
startle the sleeping grasshoppers
delight in each flowering shrub…

Drinking in orange-blossom twilight
relax to the rhythm of stars dotting sky
as a passing Whip-poor-will gulps bugs
We follow a moonlit path that calls us

Grab your dripping brushes!
Our celestial canvas awaits
There we swirl, red, white, and blue
Behold what magic our montage creates!

Such marvelous palettes the earth bestows
When rain greens our hopes, watch them grow, watch them grow!

                                           ........................................
Regarding a title, I asked Margaret Simon, Irene Latham, Amy Ludwig Vanderwater, Robyn Hood Black, Doraine Bennet, Jeannine Atkins, and Linda Baie: who titles our completed poem? Apparently, there is no rule.

So, Campers ~ Here's your assignment:
1) Read this terrific prompt about titling a poem, which Margaret pointed me to...
2) After you've been blown away by the example in that prompt...
3) I'd love to hear your suggestion for the title of this year's poem! ........................................
HERE'S THE COMMUNITY OF POETS WHO HATCHED THIS POEM:
April 1 Linda Mitchell at A Word Edgewise
April 2 Tricia at The Miss Rumphius Effect
April 3 Robyn at Life on the Deckle Edge
April 4 Donna Smith at Mainely Write
April 5 Denise at Dare to Care
April 6 Buffy at Buffy Silverman
April 7 Jone at Jone Rush Macculloch
April 8 Janice Scully at Salt City Verse
April 9 Tabatha at The Opposite of Indifference
April 10 Marcie at Marcie Flinchum Atkins
April 11 Rose at Imagine the Possibilities
April 12 Fran Haley at Lit Bits and Pieces
April 13 Cathy Stenquist at Cathy Stenquist
April 14 Janet Fagel at Mainly Write
April 15 Carol Varsalona at Beyond Literacy
April 16 Amy Ludwig VanDerwater at The Poem Farm
April 17 Kim Johnson at Common Threads
April 18 Margaret at Reflections on the Teche
April 19 Ramona at Pleasures from the Page
April 20 Mary Lee at A(nother) Year of Reading
April 21 Tanita at {fiction instead of lies}
April 22 Patricia Franz at Patricia Franz
April 23 Ruth at There’s No Such Thing as a Godforsaken Town
April 24 Linda Kulp Trout at Linda Kulp Trout
April 25 Heidi Mordhorst at My Juicy Little Universe
April 26 Michelle Kogan at: Michelle Kogan
April 27 Linda Baie at Teacher Dance
April 28 Pamela Ross at Words in Flight
April 29 Diane Davis at Starting Again in Poetry
April 30 April Halprin Wayland at Teaching Authors

                                             It's time to dance, poets ~

here's a song for our celebration:

"The Last Line"

Thank you, Sadie, for hanging out with me
for hours while I sweated over this post.

(This is Sadie, watching her current favorite movie, FLOW,

made in Latvia, and winner of the 2025 Academy Award for Animation.

It's wonderous! Run, do not walk to see it)

PS: For me, April is whiplash month. I'm constantly turning around, wondering who just called my name--when they're simply making dinner reservations. Yes, my birthday is in April; I was named for the Ogden Nash poem, "Always Marry an April Girl". 

3 Books for Poetry Month

As a follow-up to my co-blogger April Halprin Wayland's post about 3 Discoveries for Poetry Month, today I'll share three books to help celebrate poetry this month. And at the end of this post, you'll find a link to this week's Poetry Friday round-up, too. 

The first book I'd like to share is a 2024 title I learned about on Jama Rattigan's blog. After reading Jama's post about Grant Snider's Poetry Comics (Chronicle Books), I couldn't wait to get my hands on a copy. 

The book lives up to all Jama's praise and more. To be honest, I generally don't enjoy reading graphic novels, but Snider melds the form with poetry in wonderful and often unexpected ways, making his book a pleasure to read. The poems are clever, touching, and even instructional, as is the case with the four poems about writing poetry. I encourage you to check out Jama's detailed post filled with wonderful images and poems from the book, and then go out and read a copy for yourself.

And while you're on Jama's website, I encourage you to check out her National Poetry Month Kidlitosphere Events Roundup for all sorts of ways to celebrate poetry this month. The page includes information about the Kidlitosphere Progressive Poem--our own April Halprin Wayland will be one of the contributors!

I'm currently reading (and savoring) the second book I'd like to share today: If I Could Choose a Best Day: Poems of Possibility (Candlewick), an anthology selected by Irene Latham and Charles Waters and illustrated by Olivia Sua. The publisher describes the book, which was released just last month, as follows: "An ode to imagination and the power of  'if,' this exhilarating poetry collection features the voices of thirty-one diverse poets." The book's poems, which all begin with the word "if," are divided into four categories: Everyday Magic, The Power of You, Kinfolk and Companions, and Anything is Possible. 

While most of the poems are new, there are several classics, including this one from Emily Dickinson, which is in the Power of You section: 

      If I Can Stop One Heart from Breaking

      If I can stop one Heart from breaking
      I shall not live in vain
      If I can ease one Life the Aching
      Or cool one pain

      Or help one fainting Robin
      Unto his Nest again,
      I shall not live in Vain.

 Original © by Emily Dickinson, now in public domain 

I've enjoyed all the poems in the collection that I've read so far, especially Georgia Heard's "What Kind of Word is If?"

Finally, I'm thrilled to announce that the third book I'm recommending for Poetry Month is written by my friend and critique group partner, Eileen Rajala Meyer. Eileen's new picture book, Build a Sandcastle, releases April 24 from Reycraft Books. It's a wonderful rhyming story about sharing a fun day at the beach with a friend and it's marvelously illustrated with mixed media art by Manica Musil.   The book also includes text sidebars featuring a clever starfish who offers
"5-star" STEM tips about building sandcastles that will surely inspire young creators. 

Unfortunately, the cute and clever starfish doesn't appear on the book's cover. So I encourage you to check out Eileen's latest post on the Rhyme Doctor's House Calls blog to see a sample page and check out some of her poetic text. I hope you'll also purchase a copy of the book for your favorite child and/or ask your local library to order one. (Check out the Acknowledgements on the copyright page to see a familiar name. 😊 )

And don't forget to visit this week's Poetry Friday roundup hosted by Jone Rush MacCulloch for more Poetry Month fun.

Happy Poetry Month and happy writing!

Carmela

3 Discoveries for Poetry Month!

Howdy, Campers ~ and Happy Poetry Friday! (poems and link to PF below)

Hello, hello, on this glorious first week of Poetry Month ~ I have a shower of 3 poetry discoveries just for you!

My 1st Poetry Discovery:

On October 3, 2024, Carmela's post was about a new poetry anthology, Clara's Kooky Compendium of Thimblethoughts and Wonderfuzz edited by Sylvia Vardell and Janet Wong and illustrated by Frank Ramspott (Pomelo Books). Her post, which you'll find here, is worth reading. (Full disclosure: both Carmela and I are proud to have poems in this collection).

The BREAKING NEWS is now, there's a companion to Clara's...called MY Kooky Compendium. It's a guided journal (blank book) with illustrations to inspire 8-13-year-old thimblethinkers and wonderfuzzers.

Read Sylvia's March 21st LET'S GET KOOKY! post about the companion book here--and make sure you watch the 1-minute not-to-be-missed video about it (which is filled Janet and Sylvia's good humor and lots of animations) at the end of her post. Now, go to Pomelo Books for more info and to order both the original Clara’s (long title--you know it by now) and its new companion, MY Kooky Compendium of Thimblethoughts and Wonderfuzz.

My 2nd Poetry Discovery:

I've just finished my first year of a 3-year term on NCTE's Poetry Awards Committee ~ and man-oh-man! was THAT an experience! At the beginning, as the books came to our doorstep, it felt just like Christmas (says the Jewish girl): OMG--a present almost every day! But within a few months, it felt like The Sorcerer's Apprentice (the familiar theme begins about 2 minutes in this 10 minute performance), when I was screaming: PLEEEEEEASE! NO MORE! 

After just a month or three, there was (literally) no room in my office. Soon, the books took over shelves in our guest room...and then they crept onto the floor of the guest closet, and more and more and more and more! I'm a s-l-o-w reader. All I can say is this first year was like climbing Mt Everest. I escaped with my life, and I sure learned a ton! I wish I had had the courage to apply for this committee decades ago. It definitely would have made me a better teacher. So...thanks, Janet, for insisting I apply to this committee. I will never forgive you...and I'm forever in your debt.

And now, drum roll, please: here are this year's NCTE outstanding poetry picture books and verse novels...and here's the marvelous NCTE Poet of the Year we chose. 

My 3rd Poetry Discovery:

Here's a poetry prompt I heard listening to Highlights Foundation's webinar on April 1st, featuring Charles Waters and Irene Latham leading Highlights Foundation's first-ever National Poetry Month Celebration, showcasing their new poetry collection for children, IF I COULD CHOOSE A BEST DAY. In addition to Charles and Irene, JaNay Brown-Wood, Lacresha Berry and Jolene Gutiérrez What a great group!

Here's one poetry prompt that stole my heart: (Irene, could you remind me who shared this prompt?)

List 10 things you can't live without.
Cross out all but 5 of them.
Cross out all but 3 of them.
Cross out all but 1 of them.

Now, write a poem about that.

I tried it...and here's a rough draft of my first effort: 

JUST ONE by April Halprin Wayland

If I had to choose
just one thing,
it would be you, dear one.

Not to butter you up,
but I dream of you,
I do.

I dream of how tender,
how warm,
how sweet you are

in all your purple finery.
Please forgive me
for putting you

in the microwave.
..................... 

Here is my initial list (in no order):

1. purple potatoes ~ you’ve got to watch this 2.3 minute video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ye21IDArJP
2. poetry
3. my husband
4. our son and daughter-in-law (yeah, it's cheating, but they come in one package)
5. my friend Bruce and his wife (Bruce and I have been writing a poem a day to each other since 2010)
6. my sister and her husband
7. my sister’s husband children and grandkiddos (yeah, that's seriously cheating...)
8. Sadie
9. Kitty
10. our baby tortoises, Meredith and Derek

Try it! I'd love to hear what you come up with. It sure will be fun to teach!

Thank you, Irene, for hosting Poetry Friday at Live Your Poem

 

drawings and poems (c) April Halprin Wayland. All rights reserved.
posted by April Halprin Wayland
with help from Sadie & Kitty, who I apparently bored to sleep