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Lake Martin sunset
Today is my turn to add a line to the Kidlit 2015 Progressive Poem. When I volunteered to do this, I chose day 12 knowing that the poem would already have an established meter and theme, and I’d just have to keep it rocking along. This year the poem is free verse which is comfortable to me. It also ended up in the cypress swamp right down the street from me here in South Louisiana. I am posting a few pictures from a fall canoe trip to Lake Martin, St. Martinville, LA, which is a natural bird conservatory and cypress swamp. We can imagine our mermaid here.
Yesterday, Kim gave some grandmotherly advice to our maiden as she glides through the water. I added in my One Little Word and my blog title to complete the metaphorical advice. I was thinking of this photograph by my friend, Marjorie Pierson (cousin to my husband), who is using her fine art photography to promote saving the wetlands. Her image makes dewdrops look like jewels. If you need images to help you when adding your own line, I suggest flipping through the slides on her site.
As I pass this on to Doraine at Dori Reads, I wonder if we will stay in the swamp. Does she have a friend in the trees? Perhaps an egret or a roseate spoonbill? Does she have a friend in an alligator or nutria? I wonder where this poem is going. That is the joy of a progressive poem. You must send her out in the wild like this mermaid.
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–
an echo of Grandmother’s words, still fresh in her windswept memory.Born from the oyster, expect the pearl.
Reach for the rainbow reflection on the smallest dewdrop.
Follow the progress below:
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
Canoeing through the trees in Lake Martin.
Today is DigiLit Sunday, a link up of blogs using digital literacies in the classroom. If you are joining in for DigiLit Sunday or Digital Poetry, please link up your post below.
Reflections on the Teche 
Yes, Margaret, you are right at home in this poem aren’t you?! Love the dewdrop and how you got “reflection” in there. 🙂 Beautiful advice. Now what is our girl going to DO with it?? Can’t wait to find out! And I sure love those pics… reminds me of my years in Louisiana. xo
As we’ve been taken deeper into this girl’s life, I wondered about where you live, if her surroundings are like yours, Margaret. I like the advice you’ve added, to look even more deeply, & like Irene, wonder what she will do next? Lovely thought to see that rainbow!
Margaret,
Thank you for sharing the progressive poem and your new line. Love the alliteration in the last line: “reach for the rainbow reflection.” Interesting journey this traveler is taking. Your wondering about the traveler, made me wonder as well. Looking forward to hearing more of her story.
Thanks, as always, for hosting the digital roundup today.
Cathy
How does someone join this for next year?
The Progressive Poem is the brainchild of Irene Latham. She puts out a call in March to sign up. Her blog is Live your Poem. http://irenelatham.blogspot.com/
Thank you!
Lovely words of advice! And now I can’t wait to see what the mermaid does with these words of wisdom.
I love the “progressive” development of this character. She reaches for rainbows in the smallest of things. Ah, beautiful dreamer.
Great pearl of wisdom! What a fun line to get to do. I’m thrilled it’s still in the water. The vocab from the start was all about water. So nice to be so different from previous years. I can’t wait to find out what happens next.
Loved your questions that may spur the next writers’ ideas. “That is the joy of a progressive poem. You must send her out in the wild like this mermaid.” What fun to see her progress poet by poet!
This is a wonderful addition, Margaret. I’m looking forward to finding out where that “rainbow reflection” will take her.
I think this would be so challenging. I have irregularly followed it and wasn’t expecting the mermaid. I love your addition and look forward to see where this lovely creature goes.
Lovely photos, Margaret–I would love to spend some time in this habitat! I refuse to accept that our girl is “only” a mermaid. She has feet AND tail, and I think the rainbow reflections of pearl and dewdrop might show two sides of her: the barefoot, bare-armed wandering human and the handbag-carrying, bracelet-stroking mermaid queen…
May she find her way!
Lovely addition, Margaret. The tiny rainbow in a dewdrop is an observation for only the keenest of eyes!
Well, of course our poem and young lady would feel at home here on the Teche! Nicely done, Margaret, and thanks for sharing the lovely photographs. :0)
Thank you for providing a visual for our imaginations to grasp on to, Margaret. Those photos are incredible. And thank you also for your beautiful line. I love how the first piece of Grandmother’s advice connects her to the water, while the second, yours, connects her to the land.
Marjorie’s photos are amazing! And you’re line is lovely. I love “rainbow reflection” 😀