Progressive Poem 2020

I’ve been a Progressive Poem bystander for years. Watching the annual process is a treat. But to take part in this tradition, started in 2012 by Irene Latham at Live Your Poem, was a whole different matter. The idea of contributing was a worry. Especially toward the end of the month. That said, the clever choose-your-adventure approach made it playful and offered a flexible entry point.   Thank you to Margaret Simon at Reflections on the Teche for continuing the tradition and for giving me a push.

The poem started as an early morning walk drove us deeper into nature and an unexpected encounter.

Janice Scully at Salt City Verse passed on these lovely lines to me. Thank you, Janice.

I continue the path that winds down to the lake
or
I shake from my rucksack sweet sticky crumbs,

Progressive Poem 2020

Sweet violets shimmy, daffodils sway
along the wiregrass path to the lake
I carry a rucksack of tasty cakes
and a banjo passed down from my gram.

I follow the tracks of deer and raccoon
and echo the call of a wandering loon.
A whispering breeze joins in our song
and night melts into a rose gold dawn

Deep into nature’s embrace, I fold.
Promise of spring helps shake the cold
hints of sun lightly dapple the trees
calling out the sleepy bees

Leaf-litter crackles…I pause. Twig snaps.
I gasp! Shudder! Breathe out. Relax…
as a whitetail doe comes into view.
She shifts and spotted fawns debut.

We freeze. My green eyes and her brown
Meet and lock. Time slows down.
I scatter the cakes, backing away
Safely exiting this strange ballet.

I continue the path that winds down to the lake.

I felt the moment with the fawn and doe was something to hold onto as our journey continues, so I offer these two lines to Ruth at There is no such thing as a God-forsaken town.

Option !: Missing my breakfast for beauty’s sake,

or

Option 2: A heart filled with an adventurer’s ache,

 

 

2020 Progressive Poem Contributors

1 Donna Smith at Mainely Write
2 Irene Latham at Live Your Poem
3 Jone MacCulloch at deowriter
4 Liz Steinglass 
5 Buffy Silverman
6 Kay McGriff 
7 Catherine Flynn at Reading to the Core
8 Tara Smith at Going to Walden
9 Carol Varsalona at Beyond Literacy Link
10 Matt Forrest Esenwine at Radio, Rhythm, and Rhyme
11 Janet Fagel, hosted at Reflections on the Teche
12 Linda Mitchell at A Word Edgewise
13 Kat Apel at Kat Whiskers
14 Margaret at Reflections on the Teche
15 Leigh Anne Eck at A Day in the Life
16 Linda Baie at Teacher Dance
17 Heidi Mordhorst at My Juicy Little Universe
18 Mary Lee Hahn at A Year of Reading
19 Tabatha at Opposite of Indifference
20 Rose Cappelli at Imagine the Possibilities 
21 Janice Scully at Salt City Verse
22 Julieanne Harmatz at To Read, To Write, To Be
23 Ruth at There is no such thing as a God-forsaken town
24 Christie Wyman at Wondering and Wandering
25 Amy at The Poem Farm
26 Dani Burtsfield at Doing the Work That Matters
27 Robyn Hood Black at Life on the Deckle Edge
28 Jessica Bigi at TBD
29 Fran Haley at lit bits and pieces
30 Michelle Kogan