The 2017 Progressive Poem has arrived!

The day is finally here!

Irene Latham’s annual Progressive Poem has made its way to my little home on the web here, and it’s time for me to add my line to a poem that has been growing and developing for the past 26 days. And what better day to do this than today, Poem in Your Pocket Day. So find a poem you like, write it down or print it out, and hang onto it…and share it with someone who may enjoy it, as well!

If you don’t know, here’s how the Progressive Poem works: each day throughout April a different person adds a line until we have a complete, 30-poet poem on April 30!

Our heroine (or hero?) has been on adventure that we learned was actually a stage production – or at least, that’s how many of us perceived it – so my illustrious fellow blogger/writer, Renee LaTulippe assisted with our denouement with yesterday’s line.

Today, it’s up to me to continue the saga! As the poem has bounced between rhyming and non-rhyming lines, metered and unmetered, I tried not to worry too much about form, but did try to maintain the integrity of the previous lines and the movement of the poem itself:

I’m fidget, friction, ragged edges–
I sprout stories that frazzle-dazzle,
stories of castles, of fires that crackle
with dragonwords that smoke and sizzle.

But edges sometimes need sandpaper,
like swords need stone and clouds need vapour.
So I shimmy out of my spurs and armour
facing the day as my fickle, freckled self.

I thread the crowd, wear freedom in my smile,
and warm to the coals of conversation.
Enticed to the stage by strands of story,
I skip up the stairs in anticipation.

Flip around, face the crowd, and freeze!
Shiver me. Look who’s here. Must I disappear?
By hook or by crook, I deserve a second look!
I cheer. Please, have no fear. Find the book.

But wait! I’ll share the lines I know by heart.
Mythical howls, fiery tones slip from my lip
Blue scales flash, claws rip, the prophecy begins
Dragonworld weaves webs that grip. I take a trip…

“Anchors aweigh!” Steadfast at helm on clipper ship,
a topsail schooner, with sails unfurled, speeds away
As, true-hearted dragon pirate, I sashay
with my wise parrot, Robyn, through the spray.

“Land Ho!” (“Land Ho!”) We’ve hooked the whole crowd.
So it’s true what they say: the play IS the thing.
Stepping back from my blocking, theatre grows loud…

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Take it away, Michelle!

If you’d like, you can follow along and watch the progress – and catch up on how the poem has “progressed” up to this point! Here’s the schedule:

1 Heidi at my juicy little universe
2 Tabatha at The Opposite of Indifference
3 Doraine at Dori Reads
4 Michelle at Today’s Little Ditty
5 Diane at Random Noodling
6 Kat at Kat’s Whiskers
7 Irene at Live Your Poem
8 Mary Lee at A Year of Reading
9 Linda at TeacherDance
10 Penny at a penny and her jots
11 Ramona at Pleasures from the Page
12 Janet F. at Live Your Poem
13 Margaret at Reflections on the Teche
14 Jan at Bookseedstudio
15 Brenda at Friendly Fairy Tales
16 Joy at Poetry for Kids Joy
17 Tricia at The Miss Rumphius Effect
18 Buffy at Buffy’s Blog
19 Pat at Writer on a Horse
20 BJ at Blue Window
21 Donna at Mainely Write
22 Jone at Jone Ruch MacCulloch
23 Ruth at There is no such thing as a godforsaken town
24 Amy at The Poem Farm
25 Robyn at Life on the Deckle Edge
26 Renee at No Water River
27 Matt at Radio, Rhythm and Rhyme
28 Michelle at Michelle Kogan
29 Charles at Poetry Time
30 Laura Purdie Salas at Writing the World for Kids

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