The Birds on the Wall #AvianAllusions #NPM #NaPoWriMo #NationalPoetryMonth #ProgressivePoem

Each day during April, I will write a poem-ish piece inspired by the avian world. I have left my challenge open so that the poems may take any form — haiku, free verse, borrowed line, blackout — and who knows which direction they will go in.

Day #5: The Birds on the Wall

A peek at my process — In 1898, Milton Bradley (yes, the game company) began publishing a series of linen-backed bird charts for the Massachusetts Audubon Society. Six of these antique charts hung in the den of the house I grew up in just outside of Boston, having been handed down through the family. I was fascinated by them as a child, and have loved birds ever since. The series of chromolithographs (prints of watercolor paintings by Louis Agassiz Fuertes), was released over 26 years. Mass Audubon, which pre-dates the National Audubon Society, was founded in Boston by Harriet Hemenway in 1886. The charts were originally printed to raise awareness about the bird slaughter being committed to supply feathers for women’s hats. Thank goodness for Mrs. Hemenway! My dream is for several of the family charts to hang on my den walls one day.

And now for…

Participants in the Poetry Friday community have launched the 9th annual Kidlitosphere Progressive Poem originally organized by author/poet, Irene Latham. Margaret Simon at Reflections on the Teche took over last year as the organizer. Poet/author takes the reins once again today, choosing a line from two gifted to her by Donna Smith. You may read her lines here on her blog, Live Your Poem. I’m excited to provide the 29th and penultimate line on Thursday, April 29th. I hope you’ll join us to see what happens! Here’s the itinerary for the poem.

2021 Progressive Poem Itinerary:

1 Kat Apel at katswhiskers
2 Linda Mitchell at A Word Edgewise
3 Mary Lee at A Year of Reading
4 Donna Smith at Mainly Write
5 Irene Latham at Live your Poem
6 Jan Godown Annino at BookseedStudio
7 Rose Cappelli at Imagine the Possibilities
8 Denise Krebs at Dare to Care
9 Margaret Simon at Reflections on the Teche
10 Molly Hogan at Nix the Comfort Zone
11 Buffy Silverman
12 Janet Fagel at Reflections on the Teche
13 Jone Rush MacCulloch
14 Susan Bruck at Soul Blossom Living
15 Wendy Taleo at Tales in eLearning
16 Heidi Mordhorst at my juicy little universe
17 Tricia Stohr Hunt at The Miss Rumphius Effect
18 Linda Baie at Teacher Dance
19 Carol Varsalona at Beyond Literacy Link
20 Robyn Hood Black at Life on the Deckle Edge
21 Leigh Anne Eck at A Day in the Life
22 Ruth Hersey at There is No Such Thing as a God-forsaken Town
23 Janice Scully at Salt City Verse
24 Tabatha Yeatts at The Opposite of Indifference
25 Shari Daniels at Islands of my Soul
26 Tim Gels at Yet There is Method at https://timgels.com
27 Rebecca Newman
28 Catherine Flynn at Reading to the Core
29 Christie Wyman at Wondering and Wondering
30 Michelle Kogan at More Art 4 All

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