It is April, and I am going to do my best to join many others in celebrating National Poetry Month by reading, writing, sharing, and celebrating poetry each day. On April 8th we will experience a solar eclipse, and my hometown is the longest totality in the state of Indiana. We are expecting several tens of thousands of visitors to my town of 17,000. I thought it only fitting to write about sharing my sky with them.
Much of my inspiration this month will be from the Teach Write monthly writing prompts. Today's word is galaxy and I wrote a definito poem. This form was created by Heidi Mordhorst and is a "free verse poem of 8-12 lines (aimed at readers 8-12 years old) that highlights wordplay as it demonstrates the meaning of a less common word, which always ends the poem."
a collection of a billion stars,
clouds of gas,
and particles of dust
moving together through space
trying to defy gravity
ellipticals,
spirals,
irregulars.
with a black hole in the center
gobbling anything
that gets too close
-galaxy
Check out the Kidlit Progressive Poem, which is being organized by Margaret Simon at Reflections on the Teche. A different poet adds a line each day for the month of April. You can follow the poem's journey below.
April 1 Patricia Franz at Reverie
April 2 Jone MacCulloch
April 3 Janice Scully at Salt City Verse
April 4 Leigh Anne Eck at A Day in the Life
April 5 Irene at Live Your Poem
April 6 Margaret at Reflections on the Teche
April 7 Marcie Atkins
April 8 Ruth at There is No Such Thing as a God Forsaken Town
April 9 Karen Eastlund
April 10 Linda Baie at Teacher Dance
April 11 Buffy Silverman
April 12 Linda Mitchell
April 13 Denise Krebs at Dare to Care
April 14 Carol Varsalona at Beyond Literacy Link
April 15 Rose Cappelli at Imagine the Possibilities
April 16 Sarah Grace Tuttle
April 17 Heidi Mordhorst at my juicy little universe
April 18 Tabatha at Opposite of Indifference
April 19 Catherine Flynn at Reading to the Core
April 20 Tricia Stohr-Hunt at The Miss Rumphius Effect
April 21 Janet, hosted here at Reflections on the Teche
April 22 Mary Lee Hahn at A(nother) Year of Reading
April 23 Tanita Davis at (fiction, instead of lies)
April 24 Molly Hogan at Nix the Comfort Zone
April 25 Joanne Emery at Word Dancer
April 26 Karin Fisher-Golton at Still in Awe
April 27
April 28 Dave at Leap of Dave
April 29 Robyn Hood Black at Life on the Deckle Edge
April 30 Michelle Kogan at More Art for All
April 2 Jone MacCulloch
April 3 Janice Scully at Salt City Verse
April 4 Leigh Anne Eck at A Day in the Life
April 5 Irene at Live Your Poem
April 6 Margaret at Reflections on the Teche
April 7 Marcie Atkins
April 8 Ruth at There is No Such Thing as a God Forsaken Town
April 9 Karen Eastlund
April 10 Linda Baie at Teacher Dance
April 11 Buffy Silverman
April 12 Linda Mitchell
April 13 Denise Krebs at Dare to Care
April 14 Carol Varsalona at Beyond Literacy Link
April 15 Rose Cappelli at Imagine the Possibilities
April 16 Sarah Grace Tuttle
April 17 Heidi Mordhorst at my juicy little universe
April 18 Tabatha at Opposite of Indifference
April 19 Catherine Flynn at Reading to the Core
April 20 Tricia Stohr-Hunt at The Miss Rumphius Effect
April 21 Janet, hosted here at Reflections on the Teche
April 22 Mary Lee Hahn at A(nother) Year of Reading
April 23 Tanita Davis at (fiction, instead of lies)
April 24 Molly Hogan at Nix the Comfort Zone
April 25 Joanne Emery at Word Dancer
April 26 Karin Fisher-Golton at Still in Awe
April 27
April 28 Dave at Leap of Dave
April 29 Robyn Hood Black at Life on the Deckle Edge
April 30 Michelle Kogan at More Art for All
Greetings, Leigh Ann! I adore your "shared sky" idea to go with the Teach Write prompts, and I'm honored to have you tackle a definito. You pulled it off, and I especially like your shapely middle stanza! I actually came here to share what I wrote at Janice's blog, because I was late to it and I think I have a take that I wanted to note, although it's not my job to guide anyone!
ReplyDelete"Well, well. Putting together the testing of courage with the keeping close of little brother, the walking with others...
Janice, I believe you would like us to consider the experience of a war child, a climate refugee, a migrant. Hooray for no blithe adventure. Let us also be brave in our writing.đź’•" Leigh Ann, please ignore me and delete my comment if I'm overstepping, but the idea that our poem might address something urgent and real has me lit up!