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Robyn Hood Black - children's author, poet, artist

Life on the Deckle Edge

2019 KIDLIT Progressive Poem Parks Here Today....

April 14, 2019
Tags: Progressive Poem, 2019 Kidlit Progressive Poem

Greetings, Friends!

 

(Hope today is not too TAXing for you...;0) )

 

Welcome to the HALFWAY DAY for the 2019 Kidlit Progressive Poem!  I always look forward to participating in this community creation among the Poetry Friday/Kidlitosphere folks, since Irene Latham started this adventure years ago. Matt Forrest Essenwine  threw the first pitch of a line this year, and so far everyone's followed his "found poem" lead!  (You KNOW I do love me some found poetry!)  The tone has been summery and playful, and we're just now on the cusp of action.

 

My line's backstory:  As the poem has unfolded, I've been tossing around ideas for a song lyric line I might contribute, depending on how the poem arrived at my virtual door.  With the summer theme, I immediately started humming "Boys of Summer" by Don Henley, of The Eagles fame.  I wasn't sure any of those lines would work.  (They didn't.)

 

But I still wanted to go an Eagles route if possible, especially since Christie just added a Steve Miller line from "Fly Like an Eagle." (That's how our poets' minds work, right??) Nowadays I don't think of The Eagles without thinking of poetry, because two years ago, when I was fortunate enough to celebrate Lee Bennett Hopkins's induction into the Florida Arts Hall of Fame, one of the other four inductees was original Eagles band member Don Felder.  He grew up in Gainesville and has four GRAMMYs under his belt. (Still with me??)

 

So, I thought a Don Felder song might work.  His "Hotel California" came out in 1976, when I was a Florida girl of 13, making it part of the soundtrack of my teenage years. "On a dark, desert highway..." - Yeah, none of those lyrics really worked for the current purpose, 'pink champaign on ice' and all.  Even out of context, I couldn't find a kid-friendly one!

 

Still, I wanted to find a Don Felder line.... A little internet sleuthing, and I came across a song from the soundtrack of The Slugger's Wife (1985)  Remember that movie?  Neither do I. Anyway, I found a comPLETEly inappropriate-for-us song called "Wild Life," co-written by Felder and Mark Jordan. 

 

But it had a line I couldn't resist, because the day I am actually writing this post (Sunday) I have been watching a little golf. Unless you've given up contact with the outside world for Lent, you probably know there was a bit of excitment at the 18th hole of The Masters Tournament.  We lived in Augusta for nine years and both my babies were born there, so it will always have an azalea-lined pull for me, especially this time of year.  Enough of all that - I couldn't help myself!  Here goes:

 

 

Endless summer; I can see for miles…
Fun, fun, fun – and the whole world smiles.
No time for school- just time to play,
we swim the laughin' sea each and every day.


You had only to rise, lean from your window,
the curtain opens on a portrait of today.
Kodachrome greens, dazzling blue,
it's the chance of a lifetime,

 

make it last forever–ready? Set? Let's Go!
Come, we'll take a walk, the sun is shining down
Not a cloud in the sky, got the sun in my eyes
Tomorrow's here. It's called today.

 

Gonna get me a piece o' the sky.

I wanna fly like an eagle, to the sea

and there's a tiger in my veins

 

 

 

Found Lines:

 

L1 The Who, 'I Can See for Miles' / The Beach Boys, 'Endless Summer'
L2 The Beach Boys, 'Fun, Fun, Fun' / Dean Martin, 'When You're Smiling'
L3 The Jamies, 'Summertime, Summertime'
L4 The Doors 'Summer's Almost Gone'/ Led Zeppelin 'Good Times, Bad Times'
L5 Ray Bradbury, Dandelion Wine "You had only to rise, lean from your window,"
L6 Joni Mitchell, "Chelsea Morning"
L7 Paul Simon, "Kodachrome," "Dazzling Blue"
L8 Dan Fogelberg, "Run for the Roses"
L9 Spice Girls, "Wannabe"/ Will Smith, "Gettin' Jiggy Wit It"
L10 The Beatles, "Good Day Sunshine"
L11 The Carpenters, "Top of the World"
L12 Lin-Manuel Miranda, "Underneath the Lovely London Sky" from Mary Poppins Returns

L13 Carole King, "Hi-de-ho (That Old Sweet Roll)"

L14 Steve Miller, "Fly Like An Eagle"

L15 Don Felder, "Wild Life"

 

 

And tomorrow, (drumroll...) it will be the generous and oh-so-creative Carol to taking over at Beyond Literacy Link for the next line.  Onward!

 

----------

 

Below is the whole schedule.  Please forgive me for not making these into links; my website won't automatically convert them from the code Irene provided.  But you can click back to her website at the beginning of this post and navigate them! :0)

 

April

1 Matt @Radio, Rhythm and Rhyme

2 Kat @Kathryn Apel

3 Kimberly @KimberlyHutmacherWrites

4 Jone @DeoWriter

5 Linda @TeacherDance

6 Tara @Going to Walden

7 Ruth @thereisnosuchthingasagodforsakentown

8 Mary Lee @A Year of Reading

9 Rebecca @Rebecca Herzog

10 Janet F. @Live Your Poem

11 Dani @Doing the Work that Matters

12 Margaret @Reflections on the Teche

13 Doraine @Dori Reads

14 Christie @Wondering and Wandering

15 Robyn @Life on the Deckle Edge

16 Carol @Beyond LiteracyLink

17 Amy @The Poem Farm

18 Linda @A Word Edgewise

19 Heidi @my juicy little universe

20 Buffy @Buffy's Blog

21 Michelle @Michelle Kogan

22 Catherine @Reading to the Core

23 Penny @a penny and her jots

24 Tabatha @The Opposite of Indifference

25 Jan @Bookseestudio

26 Linda @Write Time

27 Sheila @Sheila Renfro

28 Liz @Elizabeth Steinglass

29 Irene @Live Your Poem

30 Donna @Mainely Write

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2018 Kidlitopshere Progressive Poem Parks HERE today!

April 21, 2018
Tags: Progressive Poem, 2018 Kidlit Progressive Poem

 

Happy Saturday from the Lowcountry, where jasmine is in bloom all over town! Welcome to today's edition of the 2018 KidLit Progressive Poem.

 

Heidi posted a "Pre-Progressive Poem Post" this year with some background and visiting with Progressive Poem creator Irene.  Liz dropped by, too!  They challenged each contributor to jot down responses to Liz's first line, put them away, and then bring them back out to see how close or far the poem had meandered from initial impressions. 

I was way off! ;0)

 

Here is Liz's first line:

 

Nestled in her cozy bed, a seed stretched.

 

Here were my notes:

 

--Perhaps she does not know what she'll become?  Kind of Ugly-ducklingish.  There will be growing pains – and sun, rain, wind, insects and spiders and the padding of feet, each new day a bit longer than the one before.  She might be acres inside of an untouched wood, or perhaps she is being tended by someone.  Perhaps she will be loved like the Little Prince loved the rose. She is fragile now, but curious.  She will find her way.

 

Turns out our main character Jasmine actually likes night life best!

 

Here's the poem with my line added.  Linda Kulp Trout left me with a lovely line, which I ended with a comma to help modify its first part in my addition.

 

 

Nestled in her cozy bed, a seed stretched.

 

Oh, what wonderful dreams she had!

 

Blooming in midnight moonlight, dancing with

 

the pulse of a thousand stars, sweet Jasmine

 

invented a game.

 

"Moon?" she called across warm honeyed air.

 

"I'm sad you're alone; come join Owl and me.

 

We're feasting on stardrops, we'll share them with you."

 

"Come find me," Moon called, hiding behind a cloud.

 

Secure in gentle talons' embrace, Jasmine rose

 

and set. She split, twining up Owl's toes, pale

 

moonbeams sliding in between, Whoosh, Jasmine goes.

 

Owl flew Jasmine between clouds and moon to Lee's party!

 

Moon, that wily bright balloon, was NOT alone.

 

Jas grinned,

 

           stretched,

 

                        reached,

 

                                wrapped

 

                            a new,

 

around          tender

         rootlet

 

a trellis Sky held out to her, made of braided wind and song.

 

Her green melody line twisted and clung.

 

Because she was twining poet's jasmine, she

 

wiggled a wink back at Moon, and began her poem.

 

Her whispered words floated on a puff of wind,

 

filled with light and starsong.  "Revelers, lean in –

 

 

 

With the poem about two-thirds of the way finished, I wanted to offer a little push-glide on its way toward the end of the month. I had printed out the poem and took with me to my studio Friday.  My Muse works best if I'm not trying to stare her down, but if I make myself available in the periphery.  I had also heard that the Lyrid Meteor Shower would be at its peak on April 22-23, and this image wanted to come play in my line.  Of course, there was really no room for it, except that I imagined Jasmine's words, after floating in Linda's line, showering down in some sparkly display. 

 

And now it's Tabatha's turn – if you didn't get a chance to join the IMPERFECT release celebration yesterday when she hosted Poetry Friday, I'm sure there's still some lopsided cake left!

 

Here is the poem's complete path:

 

April

 

1 Liz at Elizabeth Steinglass

2 Jane at Raincity Librarian

3 Laura at Writing the World for Kids

4 Michelle at Today's Little Ditty

5 Jan at bookseedstudio

6 Irene at Live Your Poem

7 Linda at TeacherDance

8 Janet F. at Live Your Poem

9 Ramona at Pleasures from the Page

10 Matt at Radio, Rhythm and Rhyme

11 Brenda at Friendly Fairy Tales

12 Carol at Beyond LiteracyLink

13 Linda A Word Edgewise

14 Heidi at  my juicy little universe

15 Donna at Mainely Write

16 Sarah at Sarah Grace Tuttle

17 Ruth at There is no such thing as a Godforsaken town

18 Christie at Wondering and Wandering

19 Michelle at Michelle Kogan

20 Linda at Write Time

21 Robyn at Life on the Deckle Edge

22 Tabatha at The Opposite of Indifference

23 The Poem Farm

24 A Year of Reading

25 Kiesha at Whispers from the Ridge

26 No Water River

27 Buffy's Blog

28 Kat's Whiskers

29 April atTeaching Authors

30 Doraine at Dori Reads

 

Thanks for visiting!

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Progressive Poem Parks Here Today!

April 25, 2017
Tags: Kidlit Progressive Poem, Progressive Poem, Poetry, Poetry Month
Greetings! The Progressive Poem parks here today. Thanks for coming by. (The Progressive Poem is the brainchild of our own Irene Latham. Here's a little history & previous poems if you've stumbled upon this for the first time. See the sidebar at left for links to this year's contributors. )

I think this is the first time I’ve chimed in this late in the poem. The trick is to stay true to the poetic tale as told so far, and hand off something usable to the poets who will wrap it up. (While realizing, of course, that everybody interprets the poem differently. My thoughts are much in line with Ruth's from a couple of days ago.)

The lines between fantasy and real experience feel a bit blurred, but that works for our creative child protagonist, I think. My take is that we still have a young storyteller who has overcome obstacles/fear to share a fanciful adventure from the stage.
A freckled youngster who was a knight in the second stanza is now on stage as a “dragon pirate,” weaving colorful tales of Dragonworld sea adventures for the audience.

With only five lines to go, I feel it’s my duty to help turn this pirate ship toward its storytelling port for whatever ending awaits. Of course, the parrot has been called upon to provide a little literary “echo.”) (Many thanks to Amy for naming the parrot – Ha! I’m happy to share this bit of poetic posterity with our other Poetry Friday Robyn, too.)

My line is at the end.

------


I’m fidget, friction, ragged edges–
I sprout stories that frazzle-dazzle,
stories of castles, of fires that crackle
with dragonwords that smoke and sizzle.

But edges sometimes need sandpaper,
like swords need stone and clouds need vapour.
So I shimmy out of my spurs and armour
facing the day as my fickle, freckled self.

I thread the crowd, wear freedom in my smile,
and warm to the coals of conversation.
Enticed to the stage by strands of story,
I skip up the stairs in anticipation.

Flip around, face the crowd, and freeze!
Shiver me. Look who’s here. Must I disappear?
By hook or by crook, I deserve a second look!
I cheer. Please, have no fear. Find the book.

But wait! I’ll share the lines I know by heart.
Mythicalhowls, fierytones slip from my lip
Blue scales flash, claws rip, the prophecy begins
Dragonworld weaves webs that grip. I take a trip…

“Anchors aweigh!” Steadfast at helm on clipper ship,
a topsail schooner, with sails unfurled, speeds away
As, true-hearted dragon pirate, I sashay
with my wise parrot, Robyn, through the spray.

“Land Ho!” (“Land Ho!”) We’ve hooked the whole crowd.


-----

It's all yours, Renée! (Feel free to remove/adjust that period at the end if needed.)
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Take a Break from Tax Day with the 2015 Kidlitosphere Progressive Poem

April 14, 2015
Tags: Progressive Poem, Poetry, Poetry Month

Take a refreshing dip away from numbers, forms, and lines at the post office today. Here we are, smack-dab in the middle of National Poetry Month!

One of my favorite Kidlitosphere events is this annual communal traveling poem (a different blog every day), the brainchild of talented poet and my dear friend Irene Latham.

This year's poem is especially intriguing; we have a character who seems to be a bayou mermaid, with a mysterious bracelet and wisdom-filled whispers from her grandmother. She went from land to water, and as she reached me she was reaching and seizing something, thanks to Renée yesterday, under a surprising (ominous?) shadow at the surface, with a paddle dipping, thanks to Doraine...

I suppose she could have been reaching for a literal pearl underwater, but I prefer to think of the pearl metaphorically. The rainbow-topped dewdrop would suggest she needs to find her way back to terra firma. So in my line, she has seized the paddle instead...


Progressive Poem 2015


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.

The surface glistens, a shadow slips above her head, a paddle dips–
she reaches, seizes. She’s electric energy and turquoise eyes.

Lifted high, she gulps strange air - stares clearly into



Into what? That's for the creative and insightful Ruth to decide! I'm quite curious to see where we go from here.

Below is the entire schedule, so you can follow along. If you'd like a peek at a Poetry-Month-themed little piece of art I just made (vintage mixed media/found poem) click over to my artsyletters blog ! Thanks for visiting today, and happy travels as you make your way through the rest of April.

2015 Kidlitosphere
Progressive Poem

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


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2014 Kidlitosphere PROGRESSIVE POEM parks here today...

April 16, 2014
Tags: Poetry Month, Progressive Poem, Poetry
Happy Wednesday - Here, pull up a rock. We're halfway through the week and halfway through our 2014 Kidlitosphere Progressive Poem! I’m thrilled to participate again in one my favorite adventures for National Poetry Month, a poem that travels from blog to blog, adding a line each day. It's the creation of my good friend and fellow SCBWI Southern Breezer, Irene Latham. (Click over to Irene’s Live Your Poem as links are updated each day.) Tamera left me some special treasures yesterday with a "merry hen" and "sapphire eggs." Here we go, with my line added at the end:


Sitting on a rock, airing out my feelings to the universe

Acting like a peacock, only making matters that much worse;

Should I trumpet like an elephant emoting to the moon,

Or just ignore the warnings written in the rune?

Those stars can’t seal my future; it’s not inscribed in stone.

The possibilities are endless! Who could have known?

Gathering courage, spiral like an eagle after prey

Then gird my wings for whirlwind gales in realms far, far away.

But, hold it! Let's get practical! What's needed before I go?

Time to be tactical— I'll ask my friends what I should stow.

And in one breath, a honeyed word whispered low— dreams —

Whose voice? I turned to see. I was shocked. Irene's

“Each voyage starts with tattered maps; your dreams dance on this page.

Determine these dreams—then breathe them! Engage your inner sage."

The merry hen said, “Take my sapphire eggs to charm your host.”

I tuck them close – still warm - then take my first step toward the coast.


I'm curious about those sapphire eggs – are they gifts of beauty? or will they be scrambled up for some enchanted meal? or do they contain baby merry hens who will peck their way out later in the poem? These will be the decisions of future contributors! For my line, I opted for a pivot as our narrator journeys to…. exactly where? Well, the poem itself travels to the bayou tomorrow, where our lovely Margaret will pen the next line at Reflections on the Teche. Grab your compass and follow along!
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HAPPY POETRY MONTH!

April 1, 2014
Tags: Poetry, Progressive Poem, writing life


Happy National Poetry Month!

(Click here for more on that from The Academy of American Poets.)

What's going on in the Kidlitosphere to celebrate? Glad you asked. First, the amazing Jama has rounded up a month of goodies and links over at Jama's Alphabet Soup. Better warm up the fingertips for all that clicking into wonderfulness.

Second, I'm thrilled to be participating again in the 2014 Kidlitosphere Progressive Poem

coordinated by the ever generous and talented
Irene Latham.

Here's the schedule - Just click the link for the current day of the month and follow along as the poem magically develops!


1 Charles at Poetry Time

2 Joy at Joy Acey

3 Donna at Mainely Write

4 Anastasia at Poet! Poet!

5 Carrie at Story Patch

6 Sheila at Sheila Renfro

7 Pat at Writer on a Horse

8 Matt at Radio, Rhythm & Rhyme

9 Diane at Random Noodling

10 Tabatha at The Opposite of Indifference

11 Linda at Write Time

12 Mary Lee at A Year of Reading

13 Janet at Live Your Poem

14 Deborah at Show--Not Tell

15 Tamera at The Writer's Whimsy

16 Robyn at Life on the Deckle Edge

17 Margaret at Reflections on the Teche

18 Irene at Live Your Poem

19 Julie at The Drift Record

20 Buffy at Buffy Silverman

21 Renee at No Water River

22 Laura at Author Amok

23 Amy at The Poem Farm

24 Linda at TeacherDance

25 Michelle at Today's Little Ditty

26 Lisa at Lisa Schroeder Books

27 Kate at Live Your Poem

28 Caroline at Caroline Starr Rose

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

30 Tara at A Teaching Life
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Poetry Friday: The Progressive Poem Parks Here Today!

April 25, 2013
Tags: Poetry Friday, Poetry, Poetry Month, Progressive Poem

The talented and generous Irene Latham started the Progressive Poem last year and kindly coordinated a new one for 2013. Each day during National Poetry Month , the poem visits a different blog and receives its next line. We’re in the final stretch!

I’ve enjoyed seeing it take shape and peeking behind the scenes as hosts/poets share their ideas about lines they’ve contributed.

Because I can make over-thinking into an art form, I tried not to do that with my little part today. Diane Mayr offered a solid line with delicious ambiguity. (Thanks, Diane!) I liked Diane's idea about bringing the reader in for this last stanza. I wanted to leave room for our four strong finishers, so I hope I’ve left Ruth some play in the steering wheel, too. (The “them” – are they the readers, words, both, something else??)

Here’s the poem:

When you listen to your footsteps
the words become music and
the rhythm that you’re rapping gets your fingers tapping, too.
Your pen starts dancing across the page
a private pirouette, a solitary samba until
smiling, you’re beguiling as your love comes shining through.

Pause a moment in your dreaming, hear the whispers
of the words, one dancer to another, saying
Listen, that’s our cue! Mind your meter. Find your rhyme.
Ignore the trepidation while you jitterbug and jive.
Arm in arm, toe to toe, words begin to wiggle and flow
as your heart starts singing let your mind keep swinging

from life’s trapeze, like a clown on the breeze.
Swinging upside down, throw and catch new sounds–
Take a risk, try a trick; break a sweat: safety net?
Don’t check! You’re soaring and exploring,
dangle high, blood rush; spiral down, crowd hush–
limb-by-line-by-limb envision, pyramidic penned precision.

And if you should topple, if you should flop
if your meter takes a beating; your rhyme runs out of steam—
know this tumbling and fumbling is all part of the act,
so get up with a flourish. Your pencil’s still intact.
Snap those synapses! Feel the pulsing through your pen
Commit, measure by measure, to the coda’s cadence.

You've got them now--in the palm of your hand!
Finger by finger you’re reeling them in—

All yours, Ruth!

Here’s the lineup of where this poem has travelled, and where it has yet to go:


April

1  Amy Ludwig VanDerwater

2  Joy Acey

3  Matt Forrest Esenwine

4  Jone MacCulloch

5  Doraine Bennett

6  Gayle Krause

7  Janet Fagal

8  Julie Larios

9  Carrie Finison

10  Linda Baie

11  Margaret Simon

12  Linda Kulp

13  Catherine Johnson

14  Heidi Mordhorst

15  Mary Lee Hahn

16  Liz Steinglass

17  Renee LaTulippe

18  Penny Klostermann

19  Irene Latham

20  Buffy Silverman

21  Tabatha Yeatts

22  Laura Shovan

23  Joanna Marple

24  Katya Czaja

25  Diane Mayr

26  Robyn Hood Black

27  Ruth Hersey

28  Laura Purdie Salas

29  Denise Mortensen

30  April Halprin Wayland



And, whether you prefer poetry that flits from place to place or stays put, you’ll find plenty more at Writing the World for Kids, where Laura is hosting the Poetry Friday Roundup. Thanks, Laura.

Happy last week of National Poetry Month 2013!
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