The 2021 Progressive Poem is Here!

 

This is the first time I've had a line so close to the beginning of the Progressive Poem, and the responsibility for setting the tone and direction of the poem is awe-inspiring. 

Kat Apel got us started the way Donna did last year -- each poet offering two lines from which the next poet can choose, then that poet offering two lines, and so on.

Linda Mitchell chose Kat's line

I’m a case of kindness – come and catch me if you can!

and offered me the choice of these two lines:

Easily contagious sharing smiles is my plan.

or

Don't fret about a fever, loss of smell, or taste

Let's think this through. If I go with the first choice, we've got a nice rhyming couplet out of the gate. Additionally, the seed-of-a-theme of kindness is carried on with the contagious smiles. And there's a plan offered up in that first choice. On the other hand, the second choice links the "case" in Kat's line firmly to COVID. And actually, that's a deal-killer for me. Enough with the COVID already!!

I'm going with 

I’m a case of kindness – come and catch me if you can!

Easily contagious – sharing smiles is my plan.

I checked with Linda, and she gave me permission to add the dash in her line.

Now, on to the choices I'll provide for Donna. If she wants to write another rhyming couplet, hopefully I've given her words she can work with. (Who am I kidding? Donna is the QUEEN of creative rhyming!) 

Maybe she'd like to pick up the voice of the speaker again? (Feel free to add a dash at the end of the line if you want...if you choose this one, Donna!)

I'll spread my joy both far and wide

Or maybe we need to elaborate on the plan to share smiles (and keep going with the middle-of-the-line dash). What are the things that give us joy?

Puppies, babies – what makes you giggle?

Have fun, Donna! Have fun everyone else! Just like every year, I can't wait to see what we create!

Here's where to find the poem throughout the month:

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