Ode to Feathered Friends #AvianAllusions #NPM #NaPoWriMo #NationalPoetryMonth #ProgressivePoem #Poetry Friday

Hello, and a very happy Poetry Friday and final day of National Poetry Month! Each day during April, I wrote a poem-ish piece inspired by the avian world. I left my challenge open so that the poems could take any form — haiku, free verse, borrowed line, blackout — and who knew which direction they’d go in. But go they did, and I even had help from my favorite collaborators — my remote Kindergarten poets.

So it’s the final Friday of National Poetry Month and Matt Forrest Esenwine has the honor of hosting this fifth and final roundup of the month on his blog, Radio, Rhythm, & Rhyme. I hope you will stop by his site to not only hear an update on his crazy busy goings ons, but to see the collection of tricube poems he’s assembled. I can’t wait to give that form a go, and I think even my Kindergarten poets might be able to try, too!

NPM Day #30: Ode to Feathered Friends (irregular ode)

A peek at my process — My 30th (WOW!) and final #AvianAllusion entry is an irregular ode to birds — it does not have a specific rhyme scheme. I collaborated again, one final time, with my remote Kindergarten friends who have shared over the course of the month why they like birds and why they are important. With a wee bit of poetry midwifery, our ode has hatched. Enjoy!

And now for the grand finale of…

Throughout the month of April, participants in the Poetry Friday community lovingly created 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. This years’ poem features a sweet blend of kindness, friendship, and adventure. The multi-talented Michelle Kogan takes over today, choosing one of the lines I gifted her with yesterday and adding her own flourish to wrap things up. She did a brilliant job, and even added lovely artwork that captures exactly the characters and spirit of the poem that have been living in my imagination all month long. Well done, Michelle! Here is our final poem, and don’t forget to visit her blog to see how she imagined our characters.

I’m a case of kindness – come and catch me if you can!
Easily contagious – sharing smiles is my plan.
I’ll spread my joy both far and wide
As a force of nature, I’ll be undenied.

Words like, “how can I help?” will bloom in the street.
A new girl alone on the playground – let’s meet, let’s meet!
We can jump-skip together in a double-dutch round.
Over, under, jump and wonder, touch the ground.

Friends can be found when you open a door.
Side by side, let’s walk through, there’s a world to explore.
We’ll hike through a forest of towering trees.
Find a stream we can follow while we bask in the breeze.

Pull off our shoes and socks, dip our toes in the icy spring water
When you’re with friends, there’s no have to or oughter.
What could we make with leaves and litter
Let’s find pine needles, turn into vine knitters.

We’ll lie on our backs and find shapes in the sky.
We giggle together: See the bird! Now we fly!
Inspired by nature, our imaginations soar.
Follow that humpback! Here, take an oar.

Ahh! Here comes a wave – let’s hold on tight,
splashing and laughing, let’s play until night!
When the Milky Way sparkles, and the moon’s overhead,
we make a pretend campfire and tell stories we’ve read.

Some stories are true and some myths of our time.
I love all of them, but my favorite ones rhyme!
With windows to see other lives, other places
We’ll find and treasure a rainbow of faces.

When you open your heart to a new friend
kindness for another kindles and ascends!

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