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.

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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 poems. 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.

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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):

SPRING WISHES FOR US ALL title by Linda Baie (slightly modified by my dog Sadie)

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". 

2018's Progressive Poem is HERE today!

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Howdy, Campers ~ And yikes!  The Progressive Poem is HERE today!

The Kidlitosphere Progressive Poem began in 2012 as a way to celebrate National Poetry Month (April) as a community of writers. Here's a three-way conversation between this poetry game's originator Irene Latham, Heidi Mordhorst, and Liz Steinglass just before 2018's poem sprouted.

This year, 30 poets signed on. Our mission: to grow the poem, one line at a time.

A few days ago, I posted a poem about my mixed-up feelings leading up to this momentous day. ...aka, the day I add a line.

This year, our instructions were: "take a minute to record your first impressions of how the [first] line strikes your imagination and what you think the poem might become."

So...I read the first line, by Liz Steinglass: Nestled in her cozy bed, a seed stretched.

Like so many others on this 30-day most excellent adventure, I was very happy with this first line because I like concrete, accessible images. I wrote:
Okay, a personified seed. Let's see...by nearly-the-end of this month, our seed will be
s-t-r-e-t-c-h-e-d to the max. Will she be a vine who crawls along the tops of walls? A tree who ages with each generation?

And my, my, look how our small seed has grown!  I loved Jan's line #5: invented a game. It grounded me; I couldn't wait to learn the rules of the game which Jasmine, Owl and Moon would play.  And then...off we veered! As Matt wrote: "the seed has invented a game, but she’s not playing it – which is a conundrum as far as a narrative goes." And as Heidi wrote:"you poets, you really know how to turn a ship with a well-chosen word!"

I liked Donna's prethinking of possibly including a sound, a texture, a smell...or perhaps, why be serious?  Donna jokingly toyed with the idea "that Jasmine slipped out of the owl's talons and fell to the ground and the owl ate her, The End..."

I was grateful for Sarah's grounding Jasmine on a trellis ("made of braided wind and song"~ such a pretty line) so that I could see her as a vine once more. I need images I can hold on to. (My favorite earrings are monarch butterflies. I also wear tiny bicycles, a little girl in a red dress, and big juicy slices of watermelon. My sister said: "I figured it out: you like to wear nouns.")

So, in order to be clear about what was going on in this poem, I printed it and added little drawings along the margin:

My notes. Star jasmine on the left, poet's jasmine on the right.
And boy, is its aroma intoxicating!

Along the way, Christie discovered that poet's jasmine is a real plant (which curls up the posts of our home--but I didn't know it was poet's jasmine! Thank you, for this, Christie!) According to one website, "give [this plant] heavy support [e.g., a trellis, etc.]." Isn't that what our warm community of poets and readers does?

Another site says, "this jasmine grows quickly and has a strong resilient root system." And that was my way in. I thought about what a young person could take away from our poem, especially in light of the fast-growing, newly awakened, resilient power of this generation.

So here's the poem thus far (I added a period after Kat's line):

Nestled in her cozy bed, a seed stretched.

Oh, what wonderful dreams she had had!

Blooming in midnight moonlight, dancing with

the pulse of a thousand stars, sweet Jasmine

invented a game.

“Moon?” she called across warm honeyed air.

“I’m sad you’re alone; come join Owl and me.

We’re feasting on stardrops, we’ll share them with you.”

“Come find me,” Moon called, hiding behind a cloud.

Secure in gentle talons’ embrace, Jasmine rose

and set. She split, twining up Owl’s toes, pale

moonbeams sliding in between, Whoosh, Jasmine goes.

Owl flew Jasmine between clouds and moon to Lee’s party!

Moon, that wily bright balloon, was NOT alone.

                                         Jas grinned,

                                                stretched,

                                                      reached,

                                                          wrapped

                                                        a new,

                                around           tender

                                         rootlet

a trellis Sky held out to her, made of braided wind and song.

Her green melody line twisted and clung.

Because she was twining poet’s jasmine, she

wiggled a wink back at Moon, and began her poem.

Her whispered words floated on a puff of wind,

filled with light and starsong. “Revelers, lean in –

let’s add to this merriment a game that grows

wordgifts for Lee. He’s a man who knows

selection, collection, and wisely advising

these dreamers, word-weavers, and friends.”

Jas enfolded Moon-Sky-Owl into the cup of her petals,

lifted new greens to the warming rays of spring. Sun

smeared the horizon with colour, as Jasmine stretched.
She felt powerful. She felt fresh. She bloomed and took a breath

The Progressive Poem is a kind of poet's relay race isn't it?

 So it is with a deep breath of relief, that I hand it over to dear Doraine...

  who takes us to the finish line!

Thanks for creating this, Irene ~ and thank you to every member of this year's team!2018 Progressive Poetry Contributors:

1 Liz at Elizabeth Steinglass

2 Jane at Raincity Librarian

3 Laura at Writing the World for Kids

4 Michelle at Today's Little Ditty

5 Jan at bookseedstudio

6 Irene at Live Your Poem

7 Linda at TeacherDance

8 Janet F. at Live Your Poem

9 Ramona at Pleasures from the Page

10 Matt at Radio, Rhythm and Rhyme

11 Brenda at Friendly Fairy Tales

12 Carol at Beyond LiteracyLink

13 Linda at A Word Edgewise

14 Heidi at my juicy little universe

15 Donna at Mainely Write

16 Sarah at Sarah Grace Tuttle

17 Ruth at There is no such thing asa Godforsaken town

18 Christie at Wondering and Wandering

19 Michelle at Michelle Kogan

20 Linda at Write Time

21 Robyn at Life on the Deckle Edge

22 Tabatha at The Opposite of Indifference

23 Amy at The Poem Farm

24 Mary Lee at A Year of Reading

25 Kiesha at Whispers from the Ridge

26 Renee at No Water River

27 Buffy at Buffy's Blog

28 Kat at Kat's Whiskers

29 April at Teaching Authors

30 Doraine at Dori Reads 

posted with love by April Halprin Wayland, with help from Eli and Monkey

Monkey and Eli share a favorite poem

from Louis Untermeyer's The Golden Treasury of Poetry 

Progressive Poem for Progressive Poets--and our 9th Blogiversary!

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Howdy, Campers!

Happy National Poetry Month and Poetry Friday!  And Happy-Amazingness that we're celebrating TeachingAuthors' 9th Blogiversary--wowza!

As I wrote to our Founder, Coach, Computer Genius and Blogging Wizard, Carmela today: "I can't begin to tell you how glad I am that the universe reached all the way 'cross the country nine years ago and knocked on my door...

...it's been life-changing in many ways.  Thank you for starting it, thank you for captaining our ship."

Read Carmela's blogiversary post which includes JoAnn's terrific, short spring poem...then join in our combined Blogiversary/Earth Day celebration by passing along a book that helped you grow in your craft, or that was a favorite read aloud, or that you'd simply like to share with someone else.

April Halprin Wayland on World Book Night 2013,
giving away a book at Lawndale High School

JoAnn's perfect spring poem made me think of this quote (I cannot for the life of me find the rest of the poem--can you?) that makes my heart happy and my head swim:

I stuck my head out the window this morning and spring kissed me bang in the face. ~ Langston Hughes
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Onward!  If you don't know what the Progressive Poem is, hop on over to Irene Latham's post. Okay...so now you understand this poetry game, right? Well. My line's due this Sunday and here's my current state of my mind:

PROGRESSIVE IDEAS ABOUT PROGRESSIVE POEMS

by April Halprin Wayland
.

I'm supposed to contribute, I'm pregnant to post.

I'm due to distribute, I'll be Sunday's host.

My foot is a-tapping, my thoughts overlapping:

no, don't think ahead—you'll for sure be misled.

Perhaps the main actor's a scarecrow instead

of the seed which we started with

(now it's a monolith!)

But here is a thought:

take a breath, take a vow...

light a lemony candle

and just 

be here now.

Poem (c)2018 April Halprin Wayland. All rights reserved.

My line is due on Sunday. Wish me luck.

Here's Team Progressive Poem's posting schedule:

April 2018 ~ Progressive Poetry Contributors:

1 Liz at Elizabeth Steinglass

2 Jane at Raincity Librarian

3 Laura at Writing the World for Kids

4 Michelle at Today's Little Ditty

5 Jan at bookseedstudio

6 Irene at Live Your Poem

7 Linda at TeacherDance

8 Janet F. at Live Your Poem

9 Ramona at Pleasures from the Page

10 Matt at Radio, Rhythm and Rhyme

11 Brenda at Friendly Fairy Tales

12 Carol at Beyond LiteracyLink

13 Linda at A Word Edgewise

14 Heidi at my juicy little universe

15 Donna at Mainely Write

16 Sarah at Sarah Grace Tuttle

17 Ruth at There is no such thing asa Godforsaken town

18 Christie at Wondering and Wandering

19 Michelle at Michelle Kogan

20 Linda at Write Time

21 Robyn at Life on the Deckle Edge

22 Tabatha at The Opposite of Indifference

23 Amy at The Poem Farm

24 Mary Lee at A Year of Reading

25 Kiesha at Whispers from the Ridge

26 Renee at No Water River

27 Buffy at Buffy's Blog

28 Kat at Kat's Whiskers

29 April at Teaching Authors note: this link won't work until Sunday, April 27, 2018

30 Doraine at Dori Reads 

Be sure and visit Jama's Round-up of Events in the Kidlitosphere for National Poetry Month!  

And thank you, dear Irene, for hosting
the last Poetry Friday of National Poetry Month 2018
at Live Your Poem!

PS: Before you go, share in the comments if you have a book you're planning to pass along in honor of our Blogiversary/Earth Day celebration!

posted with overflowing love to my sister TAs and with trepidation about you-know-what by April Halprin Wayland

The Progressive Poem's denouement!

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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.
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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!

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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