PO-EMotion -- Dejection

Wikipedia

WHINE OF THE MEDUSOZOA

I belong to a bloom of jellies,

we've adapted to the tidal flux,

you'd think after 500 million years

we'd have brains...no such luck.

No brains, no eyes*, no stomach, no lungs,

just a floating gelatinous blob.

We drift with the current eating plankton and such,

hunting passively...a boring job.

I'll never see mountains or prairies or sky,

never walk on dry land with real legs,

never soar with a butterfly, bluebird or hawk,

never sing...my life is the dregs.

©Mary Lee Hahn, 2015

*"Certain species of jellyfish, such as the box jellyfish, have been revealed to have more advanced vision than their counterparts. The box jellyfish has 24 eyes, two of which are capable of seeing color, and four parallel information processing areas or rhopalia that act in competition, supposedly making it one of the few creatures to have a 360-degree view of its environment." --from Wikipedia

Carol, at Carol's Corner, will join me again this year as often as possible.

Carol finds dejection in the middle school cafeteria.

Kimberley, at iWrite in Maine, is joining me this month. 

Kim's dejection is poignant.

Kay, at A Journey Through the Pages, is joining, too!

Kay share's a reader's dejection.

Steve, at inside the dog, is sharing his poems 

in the comments at Poetrepository.

Heidi, at my juicy little universe, will join us when she can.

Linda, at TeacherDance, will join as often as she can.

Check the comments at A Year of Reading or Poetrepository for her poems.

Kevin (Kevin's Meandering Mind) is back this year,

leaving poetry trax in the comments.

Jone, at DeoWriter, is doing a "double L" challenge. 

She and I are cross-poLLinating our challenges whenever possible. 

Today's word is JELLYFISH.

Laura has the Poetry Friday roundup today at
Writing the World for Kids

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2015 Progressive Poem

Welcome to latest installment of the 2015 Progressive Poem! I'm going to honor the changes Irene, our fearless leader, made to the layout. She writes,

"You'll notice a couple of changes in this version of our poem. Jone's first line has been edited slightly, at Jone's request. (She and Joy decided "deposits" was redundant.) Also, I've broken the lines into couplets (one way to add white space to long lines."

I'm a flatlander from the arid prairies of eastern Colorado. I know nothing about deltas, let alone mermaids. This will be a stretch for my imagination! Excuse me for a minute while I go do some research!

...I hope Irene won't mind if I change her period to a comma! I'll leave my line unpunctuated for Michelle (Today's Little Ditty) to do with as she will!

She lives without a net, walking along the alluvium of the delta.
Shoes swing over her shoulder, on her bare feet stick jeweled flecks of dark mica.

Hands faster than fish swing at the ends of bare brown arms. Her hair flows,
snows in wild wind as she digs in the indigo varnished handbag,

pulls out her grandmother's oval cuffed bracelet,
strokes the turquoise stones, and steps through the curved doorway.

Tripping on her tail she slips hair first down the slide... splash!
She glides past glossy water hyacinth to shimmer with a school of shad,

listens to the ibises roosting in the trees of the cypress swamp

PO-EMotion -- Courage

SENECA ROCKS, WV

It's not enough

just to crawl to the top

plastering yourself to the rocks

in a smear of gravity.

Once you get there

you have to stand up

on your own two perilously unstable feet --

valiant and vertical.

©Mary Lee Hahn, 2015

Carol, at Carol's Corner, will join me again this year as often as possible.

Carol has an AMAZING poem for two voices.

Kimberley, at iWrite in Maine, is joining me this month. 

Courage is found in the classroom.

Kay, at A Journey Through the Pages, is joining, too!

Have courage, writers!

Steve, at inside the dog, is sharing his poems 

in the comments at Poetrepository.

Heidi, at my juicy little universe, will join us when she can.

Linda, at TeacherDance, will join as often as she can.

Check the comments at A Year of Reading or Poetrepository for her poems.

Kevin (Kevin's Meandering Mind) is back this year,

leaving poetry trax in the comments.

Jone, at DeoWriter, is doing a "double L" challenge. 

She and I are cross-poLLinating our challenges whenever possible. 

PO-EMotion -- Joy

Flickr Creative Commons Photo by dutchy_42

QUILTING

In the last patch

of evening-lit sky

above the river,

a single heron

stitches one bank to the other

with steady wingbeats.

Bats zigzag

the seams of the day

to prevent unraveling.

©Mary Lee Hahn, 2015

Carol, at Carol's Corner, will join me again this year as often as possible.

Dog joy at Carol's Corner today.

Kimberley, at iWrite in Maine, is joining me this month. 

She finds joy in read aloud.

Kay, at A Journey Through the Pages, is joining, too!

Kay is hunting joy.

Steve, at inside the dog, is sharing his poems 

in the comments at Poetrepository.

Heidi, at my juicy little universe, will join us when she can.

Linda, at TeacherDance, will join as often as she can.

Check the comments at A Year of Reading or Poetrepository for her poems.

Kevin (Kevin's Meandering Mind) is back this year,

leaving poetry trax in the comments.

Jone, at DeoWriter, is doing a "double L" challenge. 

She and I are cross-poLLinating our challenges whenever possible. 

PO-EMotion -- Acceptance

UNTIL SUCH TIME

My trio of tubes
were machined
to make music.

I hang inside
silent
dreaming of breezes
gathering dust.

In my bones,
I hum.


©Mary Lee Hahn, 2015

Carol, at Carol's Corner, will join me again this year as often as possible.

Carol adds a few verses to the Serenity Prayer.

Kimberley, at iWrite in Maine, is joining me this month. 

Kim's acceptance comes from the classroom.

Kay, at A Journey Through the Pages, is joining, too!

Of maple leaves and hawks...

Steve, at inside the dog, is sharing his poems 

in the comments at Poetrepository.

Heidi, at my juicy little universe, will join us when she can.

Linda, at TeacherDance, will join as often as she can.

Check the comments at A Year of Reading or Poetrepository for her poems.

Kevin (Kevin's Meandering Mind) is back this year,

leaving poetry trax in the comments.

Jone, at DeoWriter, is doing a "double L" challenge. 

She and I are cross-poLLinating our challenges whenever possible. 

2015 Progressive Poem

I need to start getting ready to add my line!

1 Jone at Check it Out

2 Joy at Poetry for Kids Joy

3 Heidi at My Juicy Little Universe

4 Laura at Writing the World for Kids

5 Charles at Poetry Time Blog

6 Ramona at Pleasures from the Page

7 Catherine at Catherine Johnson

8 Irene at Live Your Poem

9 Mary Lee at Poetrepository

10 Michelle at Today's Little Ditty

11 Kim at Flukeprints

12 Margaret at Reflections on the Teche

13 Doraine at DoriReads

14 Renee at No Water River

15 Robyn at Life on the Deckle Edge

16 Ruth at There is No Such Thing as a Godforsaken Town

17 Buffy at Buffy's Blog

18 Sheila at Sheila Renfro

19 Linda at Teacher Dance

20 Penny at A Penny and her Jots

21 Tara at A Teaching Life

22 Pat at Writer on a Horse

23 Tamera at The Writer's Whimsy

24 Tricia at The Miss Rumphius Effect

25 Tabatha at The Opposite of indifference

26 Brian at Walk the Walk

27 Jan at Bookseedstudio

28 Amy at The Poem Farm

29 Donna at Mainely Write

30 Matt at Radio, Rhythm & Rhyme

PO-EMotion --Sadness

from Google Images -- labeled for reuse

seven paper boats

a single candle in each

flotilla of grief

©Mary Lee Hahn, 2015

Carol, at Carol's Corner, will join me again this year as often as possible.

Carol's sadness takes the form of a kite.

Kimberley, at iWrite in Maine, is joining me this month. 

Her poem is heart-wrenching.

Kay, at A Journey Through the Pages, is joining, too!

Kay ponders the place of giggles in the midst of sadness.

Steve, at inside the dog, is sharing his poems 

in the comments at Poetrepository.

Heidi, at my juicy little universe, will join us when she can.

Her poem is "Why I Keep a Diary."

Linda, at TeacherDance, will join as often as she can.

Check the comments at A Year of Reading or Poetrepository for her poems.

Kevin (Kevin's Meandering Mind) is back this year,

leaving poetry trax in the comments.

Jone, at DeoWriter, is doing a "double L" challenge. 

She and I are cross-poLLinating our challenges whenever possible. 

Her sadness is of a food chain sort.

The roundup of 2015 Poetry Month projects throughout the Kidlitosphere can be found at 

Jama's Alphabet Soup.

PO-EMotion -- Disgust

Flickr Creative Commons Photo by Quinn Dombrowski

ODE TO THE EASTER EGG WE FOUND IN MAY

Along with a dust bunny from in back of the shelf

the innocent cat rolled you out.

In the dark, shoeless Dad stepped upon you

and let out a startled shout.

Your elliptical shell crunched and shattered,

a noxious stench rose and oozed,

the cat wisely galloped away

as the stink cloud spread and grew.

We opened all of the windows,

shooed the stink cloud out of the door.

Next Easter there will be no hunt.

To quote Dad: "Nevermore. Nevermore."

©Mary Lee Hahn, 2015

Carol, at Carol's Corner, will join me again this year as often as possible.

Her poem summarizes the rest of ours!

Kimberley, at iWrite in Maine, is joining me this month. 

Teachers, especially of younger children, will relate. Ew.

Kay, at A Journey Through the Pages, is joining, too!

Questions for a Litterbug

Steve, at inside the dog, is sharing his poems 

in the comments at Poetrepository.

Linda, at TeacherDance, will join as often as she can.

Check the comments here and at Poetrepository for her poems.

Kevin (Kevin's Meandering Mind) is back this year,

leaving poetry trax in the comments.

Jone, at DeoWriter, is doing a "double L" challenge. 

She and I are cross-poLLinating our challenges whenever possible. 

The roundup of 2015 Poetry Month projects throughout the Kidlitosphere can be found at 

Jama's Alphabet Soup.

PO-EMotion -- Anger

"Wild Platypus 4" by Klaus - Flickr: Wild Platypus 4. Licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons 

WHY CAN'T YOU ACCEPT ME FOR WHAT I AM?!?!?

I'm an

egg-laying

duck-billed

beaver-tailed

otter-footed

evolution-confounding

naturalist-baffling

real-life

no-joke

Australian-born

coin-featured

MAMMAL!

©Mary Lee Hahn, 2015

The first four hyphenated pairs in my poem today are borrowed straight from the Wikipedia article on the Platypus. Just goes to show that you can find your inspiration just about anywhere!

Carol, at Carol's Corner, will join me again this year as often as possible.

She passionately asks those fighting for big truths 
to remember how much the small stuff matters.

Kimberley, at iWrite in Maine, is joining me this month. 

She finds anger on the playground.

Kay, at A Journey Through the Pages, is joining, too!

Kay WAS spittin' mad!

Steve, at inside the dog, is sharing his poems 

in the comments at Poetrepository.

Linda, at TeacherDance, will join as often as she can.

Check the comments here and at Poetrepository for her poems.

Yay! Kevin (Kevin's Meandering Mind) is back this year,

leaving poetry trax in the comments.

Jone, at DeoWriter, is doing a "double L" challenge. 

She and I are cross-poLLinating our challenges whenever possible. 

The roundup of 2015 Poetry Month projects throughout the Kidlitosphere can be found at 

Jama's Alphabet Soup.

PO-EMotion -- Surprise

DRAGONFLY'S SURPRISE

All you can see
is the agile,
iridescent
aviator
I have become:
emperor of
the pond's airspace.

Imagine this:
in my nymph-hood,
I ruled below,
terrorizing
pond's murky depths,
spent years hunting
insects, tadpoles,
even small fish.
Extending my
overgrown lip:
flashing, snatching,
holding, munching.

Molting revealed
larger wing buds
each time, but no
hints of future
aeronautics.

Until one day,
in early dark,
I climbed a reed,
stopped with my head
above water,
learned to breathe air.
That accomplished,
I morphed from a
water creature
to the wonder
you see today.

Never, ever
undervalue
a lowly start.


©Mary Lee Hahn, 2015

Carol, at Carol's Corner, will join me again this year as often as possible.

Seeing something in a new way can surprise us.

Kimberley, at iWrite in Maine, is joining me this month. 

Her surprise will make you smile!

Kay, at A Journey Through the Pages, is joining, too!

Today, she has a gorgeous series of similes for surprise.

Steve, at inside the dog, is sharing his poems 

in the comments at Poetrepository or A Year of Reading.

Linda, at TeacherDance, will join as often as she can.

Check the comments here and at Poetrepository for her poems.

Yay! Kevin (Kevin's Meandering Mind) is back this year,

 leaving poetry trax in the comments.

Jone, at DeoWriter, is doing a "double L" challenge. 

She and I are cross-poLLinating our challenges whenever possible. 

She has an unwanted surprise today.

Bridget, at wee words for wee ones, has a gardening surprise today!

Ramona, at Pleasures from the Page, has a spring surprise today!

The roundup of  2015 Poetry Month projects throughout the Kidlitosphere can be found at 

Jama's Alphabet Soup.

Amy has today's Poetry Friday roundup at The Poem Farm.