Each day during April, I will write a poem-ish piece inspired by a word or phrase mined from the pages of Henry David Thoreau’s jewel-laden journals. 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 #6: Sun Dog
A peek at my process —
On April 5, 1859, Thoreau wrote in his journal, “Mr. Haines, who travelled over the lots with us this very cold and blustering day, was over eighty. ‘What raw, blustering weather!’ said I to my employer to-day. ‘Yes,’ answered he. ‘Did you see those two sun-dogs on Saturday?’ They are a pretty sure sign of cold and windy weather.“ (The Journal of Henry David Thoreau, Journal XII: March 2, 1859 – November 30, 1859, Chapter II. April, 1859, p. 115)
I confess to never having heard the term “sun dog” (or sun-dog) until reading this particular journal entry. In fact, I don’t recall learning much about the sun or moon phases as a student, but they do intrigue me. Eager to learn more, I turned to my good friends at Wonderopolis for help. As luck would have it, Wonderopolis Wonder of the Day #1665, What Is a Sun Dog? was waiting for me! I used the text from the Wonder for today’s blackout poem. In addition, here’s a more conventional layout of the poem created with Canva.
In other news —
I am also excited to share that I have joined the Teach Write blogging team and will be writing a Poetry Ponderings blog post for them every month. My first offering is Finding Your Poetry Secret Decoder Ring. And last week my blogging teammate, Paula Bourque, offered up Quick Write Sparks to Kindle the Poet In All of Us for her first Teach Write Think & Ink post. I hope you will take a peek at our posts!
And now for…
On Wednesday, members of the Poetry Friday family launched the 8th annual Kidlitosphere Progressive Poem originally organized by author/poet, Irene Latham. Margaret Simon at Reflections on the Teche is taking over this year as the organizer. Many members of the #PoetryFriday family have signed up to provide a line for the 2020 poem. Kay McGriff takes a turn today, again offering a line choice (it’s now officially a thing) for the next host, Catherine. You can find Kay’s line choices on her blog. I’m excited to provide the 24th line on Friday, April 24th. I hope you’ll join us to see what happens! Here’s the itinerary for the poem.
1 Donna Smith at Mainly Write
2 Irene Latham at Live Your Poem
3 Jone MacCulloch, deowriter
4 Liz Steinglass
5 Buffy Silverman
6 Kay McGriff at https://kaymcgriff.edublogs.org/
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, thereisnosuchthingasagodforsakentown.blogspot.com
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
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29 Fran Haley at lit bits and pieces
30 Michelle Kogan
Wondering and Wandering 
