Progressive Poem and D is for a Dragonfly Dodoistu

Happy National Poetry Month 

Happy Poetry Friday

Happy Progressive Poem

and Happy AtoZ Challenge!

It's a busy day and month!

This whole page is in celebration of National Poetry Month and Poetry Friday.  

There are two parts to the blog today.  

First up is the Progressive Poem

and then scroll down to the AtoZ Challenge of writing to the letter D today.

*******Progressive Poem Line 4 for April 4 is HERE*******

I am so excited for this line today.  It's a beautiful April poem that's been started...

The Progressive Poem was begun by Irene Latham at Live Your Poem and is now organized by Margaret Simon at Reflections on the Teche.  

The Progressive Poem is a collaborative poem with one new line written each day, with a different author adding each new line.  At the end of April, we'll have a completed poem.  No one knows what path it will take! 

Linda Mitchell at A Word Edgewise wrote the first line, getting us in the mood for Spring air, and Tricia Stohr-Hunt of The Miss Rumphius Effect added a visual splash of sun.  Then Robyn Hood Black at Life on the Deckle Edge gave us what I see as that dotted paint of almost breezy movement of sunlight spots on the beautiful spring-flowering dogwood. Ah...it's almost enough as is!  We could be done!         But no...there is more to come.

I have to admit, I picked April 4, the 4th line on purpose.  It isn't a special day of any sort, except for the fact that every day is special.  No, I decided to watch for line 2, and see if this could be a poem that could support a rhyme.  Imagine my excitement when I saw the word "air" appear!

I think air is too good a word NOT to rhyme, so...share, fair, fare, care, chair stare, stair, compare, flair, repair, impair, lair, dare, hair, hare, share, there, unfair, impair, flare, bear, bare, glare, spare, where, mare, tear, wear...what should I use?  Or should I?  Let's see...

Open an April window
let sunlight paint the air
stippling every dogwood

dappling daffodils with flair

And TAG!  You're it, Denise!  

Now it's out of my hands...will there be more rhymes?  Same pattern of rhyming?  Different? None?  Whatever it is, it will be amazing!  I don't want to wish April away, but I am very excited to see where this goes.

Tomorrow, April 5, Denise Krebs at Dare to Care will add the next line!  I hope you'll follow this progressive poem's journey throughout the month. Below is the complete list of participants, with links to the blog on which the next line will be posted.  Please, also come back here on April 14, when Janet Fagel will have her line offering posted here.

• April 1 Linda Mitchell at A Word Edgewise
• April 2 Tricia Stohr-Hunt at The Miss Rumphius Effect
• April 3 Robyn Hood Black at Life on the Deckle Edge
• April 4 Donna Smith at Mainely Write
• April 5 Denise Krebs at Dare to Care
• April 6 Buffy Silverman 
• April 7 Jone Rush MacCulloch
• April 8 Janice Scully at Salt City Verse
• April 9 Tabatha Yeatts at The Opposite of Indifference 
• April 10 Marcie Flinchum Atkins
• April 11 Rose Capelli at Imagine the Possibilities 
• April 12 Fran Haley at Lit Bits and Pieces
• April 13 Cathy Stenquist
• April 14 Janet Fagel at Mainely Write
• April 15 Carol Varsalona at Beyond LiteracyLink
• April 16 Amy Ludwig VanDerwater at The Poem Farm
• April 17 Kim Johnson at Common Threads
• April 18 Margaret at Reflections on the Teche
• April 19 Ramona at Pleasures from the Page
• April 20 Mary Lee at A(nother) Year of Reading
• April 21 Tanita Davis 
• April 22 Patricia Franz
• April 23 Ruth at There’s no such thing as a Godforsaken town
• April 24 Linda Kulp Trout 
• April 25 Heidi Mordhorst at My Juicy Little Universe
• April 26 Michelle Kogan 
• April 27 Linda Baie at Teacher Dance
• April 28 Pamela Ross at Words in Flight
• April 29 Diane Davis at Starting Again in Poetry
• April 30 April Halprin Wayland at Teaching Authors

 

*********AtoZ Challenge is HERE*********

 

It's D today.  I am having fun!  Hope you are, too!  This one was a form I'd not heard of before.  I could have taken more time on the watercolor and the poem, but I'm trying not to make it my life's work.  Short and sweet (well, hopefully sweet...).

I wrote a Dodoistu* to accompany my dragonfly. 

 

Dragonfly, delicate one,

seemingly lighter than air,

darting, devilishly fast,

grabs lunch on the go.


 by Donna JT Smith ©2025
 

*The Dodoistu is a Japanese poetry form made up of four lines, with the first three lines consisting of seven syllables each. The final, fourth line has five syllables. It is unrhymed and non-metrical.

Stay tuned for E.  I'm ready and poised to post!

C is for Cat Cinquain and Clerihew, Too.

Day 3 AtoZ Challenge - C

My C watercolor is a Cat, with a Cinquain* and a Clerihew**, too.  I couldn't decide which to do.

Cat Napping

Shadow

Hums in the dark

Happy to curl up under

Or on my bed, knowing that I 

Am near.

by Donna JT Smith ©2025

 

And a Clerihew, too:

 

Miss Shadow McCat

Knows just where it's at;

In darkest recesses

She makes hairball messes.

 

 by Donna JT Smith ©2025

 

* Adelaide Crapsey's American Cinquain form is a stanza of five lines. The lines have stresses, in order: line 1 has 1 stresses syllable, line 2 has 2 stressed syllables, 3, has 3, 4 has 4, and 5 has 1.  The number of syllables per line are 2, 4, 6, 8, and 2. The strict strict structure and physical imagery is used to communicate a mood or feeling.

**A clerihew  is a four-line biographical poem of a type invented by Edmund Clerihew Bentley. The first line is the name of the poem's subject (usually a famous person). The poem is whimsical and humorous. It has an often forced AABB rhyme. The line length and metre can be and are often irregular.

B is for Butterfly Ballad

 

April 2 - B

B is for Butterfly Ballad - A Balladified Acrostic for the Butterfly:

 

Butterfly

Beauty's iridescent wings

Under the canopy, over field

Tagging hues, faceted eyes spy

Twinkling flowers bobbing, petals yield.

Enticed by nectar, its tubered tongue

Ripples forth to call of blooms;

Flourishing in each nourishing, Beauty

Lifts off sprightly, never zooms.

"Yum!" it fairly hums. 

 

by Donna JT Smith ©2025

A is for an Apple Acrostic

 

April 1 A

Good to see everyone again!

My theme is Watercolor and Words

I will be doing a small watercolor image and writing a poem to accompany it.  I am mostly experimenting with the watercolors still, so don't expect perfection....

Here's the first:  An Apple Acrostic

by Donna JT Smith, 2025

 

Ambrosia with a crunch,

Plucked fresh from a tree,

Plump and sweet to fill a pie; for

Lunch I could

Eat three! 

          by Donna JT Smith ©2025

Coming shortly....I am going to go search out more links to the AtoZ, so you can easily click here to visit another participant.

 

Spiritual Journey Thursday: Wholeness

 Spiritual Journey Thursday

is hosted today by Denise Krebs and you can find more posts by going to her site and reading the comments with links in them to others commenting on "Wholeness" today. 

 

Wholeness

There is a wholeness that I felt as a child

with wind and sea and pine,

and security of family. 

I drifted into more

security and wholeness,

or expanded perhaps is the better word,

to living with the bits and pieces we put

together in life, 

creating our space and

our new family unit, 

blending and growing that to new wholeness. 

Now I seek my own 

oneness,

wholeness

rearranging the bits and pieces

we had set about us,

and realize

God is my wholeness,

always has been

Wholly Holy.

He is all.

I don't need bits and pieces

to be whole. 

There are no bits and pieces

to the Wholeness.

 

By Donna JT Smith, ©2025 

Z is for Zoetic

Good Words Alphabetically: Z is for Zoetic

Ah, z end of z month...

I'm going to miss writing a poem and drawing every day.  Perhaps I will continue.  It was a fun re-entry into regular writing for me. Even though AtoZ is concluded, I will have one more poem tomorrow.  Dauntless was my original D word, but I wrote a second D poem, and decided to save Dauntless for last. 

I hope you enjoyed this poetic journey through the alphabet.  I've enjoyed myself, so at least there's that! Maybe I'll see you tomorrow with Dauntless.

 Zoetically Speaking

When I think of words in life,

some that lift and those of strife,

we've little need of high and noetic,

but simpler words, kind and zoetic;

vital to a wholesome soul,

filling hearts with worthy goals,

words of comfort, whimsy, zeal,

joyous words that help to heal,

We should hold words in our hand

for doling out at life's command -

words that keep you breathing, living,

growing you so you keep giving

more of self, decreasing need,

by spreading more zoetic seed.

 

By Donna JT Smith ©2024

 

Y is for Yesterday

 A to Z Challenge and National Poetry Month combined in my

Good Words Alphabetically: Y is for Yesterday.  

 

Yesterdays' Lessons

Yesterday may have been sweet

adventuresome, delightful

Or it might have been disastrous

sadly dark and frightful

But that was simply yesterday

Today’s a day that’s new;

A day to start all fresh again

Because you’re a new you, too. 

Every yesterday you’ve had

Various circumstances

Either good or not so good

Each rhythm changed the dances

One yesterday you learned something

That molded you in ways 

A stronger you with wisdom

That sustained you to this day

skinned knees, sun and friendships 

Arguments and rain

Compounded your resiliency,

And trained your yester-brain. 

A wiser one you’ve grown to be

Fortified from bump and bruise 

Today is tomorrow’s yesterday

Look for wins when you lose. 

By Donna JT Smith ©️2024

 

Dauntless at Last

 

 

Dauntless

 

Dauntless and daring,

valiant and brave,

she stepped to the plate

and unsheathed her stave.

She took a strong swing

and penned some good words,

then ran all the bases 

and hoped she'd been heard.

It wasn't applause

from the throngs that she sought,

just the feeling of knowing

her thoughts had been caught

not snatched by wind

nor nabbed with a mitt

but caught and reread

by you where you sit.

Valiant and dauntless,

brave and daring,

she signed her name

to her soul she was baring.

by Donna JT Smith ©2024

The Progressive Poem 2024 and AtoZ Challenge

If you are here for the 2024 Progressive Poem, you made the trip safely! I will post the AtoZ Challenge poem for today below this....so scroll down if you are here for my Good Words from AtoZ: A Villanelle for Xenial.

I was going to try to rewrite this explanation in my own words but,no. This is good. Thank you, Karin Fisher-Golton!

“Poet and author Irene Latham began a progressive poem tradition in 2012 “as a way to celebrate National Poetry Month (April) as a community of writers” in the Kidlitsophere (world of children’s literature blogs). A different blogger poet hosts the progressive poem each day in April and adds to a group poem. Irene headed up the project from 2012 to 2019 (archive here). And Margaret Simon took over the organizer role in 2020 (see that poem and links to later ones here). Most years each poet writes a line, but this year Patricia Franz began with a couplet (a pair of lines) and a call for a real-life world theme. Soon a narrative poem was developing on the serious topic of children with, as Carol Varsalona describes in her April 14 couplet, a “no-choice need to escape.” Most (maybe all) of us are writing outside our lived experience, but as people who write for children, the multitude of children who are impacted by and have been impacted by such dire situations weigh heavily on our hearts. Wishes for catalysts of hope and moments of respite come through.

On April 6, organizer Margaret Simon grouped the couplets into quatrains (four-line stanzas), which gave the poem structure and helped bring focus to the narrative.”

Below is this year’s poem, so far. My couplet is italicized at the end. Next up tomorrow, April 28: Dave at  Leap of Dave.

cradled in stars, our planet sleeps,
clinging to tender dreams of peace
sister moon watches from afar,
singing lunar lullabies of hope.

almost dawn, I walk with others,
keeping close, my little brother.
hand in hand, we carry courage
escaping closer to the border

My feet are lightning;
My heart is thunder.
Our pace draws us closer
to a new land of wonder.

I bristle against rough brush—
poppies ahead brighten the browns.
Morning light won’t stay away—
hearts jump at every sound.

I hum my own little song
like ripples in a stream
Humming Mami’s lullaby
reminds me I have her letter

My fingers linger on well-worn creases,
shielding an address, a name, a promise–
Sister Moon will find always us
surrounding us with beams of kindness

But last night as we rested in the dusty field,
worries crept in about matters back home.
I huddled close to my brother. Tears revealed
the no-choice need to escape. I feel grown.

Leaving all I’ve ever known
the tender, heavy, harsh of home.
On to maybes, on to dreams,
on to whispers we hope could be.

But I don’t want to whisper! I squeeze Manu’s hand.
“¡Más cerca ahora!” Our feet pound the sand.
We race, we pant, we lean on each other
I open my canteen and drink gratefully

Thirst is slaked, but I know we’ll need
more than water to achieve our dreams.
Nights pass slowly, but days call for speed
through the highs and the lows, we live with extremes

We enter a village the one from Mami’s letter,
We find the steeple; food, kindly people, and shelter.
“We made it, Manu! Mami would be so proud!”
I choke back a sob, then stand tall for the crowd.

A slapping of sandals… I wake to the sound
of ¡GOL! Manu’s playing! The fútbol rebounds.
I pinch myself. Can this be true?
Are we safe at last? Is our journey through?

I savor this safety, we’re enveloped with care,
but Tío across the border, still seems far as stars.

He could not yet come to this new place

But Hermana moon, kiss his tear-stained face

 

Take it away, Dave!  I fixed his link in my list...it's missing the .blogspot.com, if you are going through another way.

This is the list of participants and links to their blogs:

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 at A Word Edgewise
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 (missed day)
April 26 Karin Fisher-Golton at Still in Awe
April 27 Donna Smith at Mainely Write
April 28 Dave at Leap of Dave   THIS WAS CORRECTED HERE.
April 29 Robyn Hood Black at Life on the Deckle Edge
April 30 Michelle Kogan at More Art for All

***************************************************************

Good Words Alphabetically: X is for Xenial!

The first and third lines of the opening tercet are repeated alternately in the last lines of the succeeding stanzas; then in the final stanza, the refrain serves as the poem’s two concluding lines. Using capitals for the refrains and lowercase letters for the rhymes, the form could be expressed as: A1 b A2 / a b A1 / a b A2 / a b A1 / a b A2 / a b A1 A2. From Poets.org
https://poets.org/glossary/villanelle

X is for Xenial

Ah, the Ocean

Ah, the ocean!
A most xenial spot
Like a potion.

Curb all motion
And dwell in thought,
Ah, the ocean!

Is it just a notion,
Or is it not
Like a potion?

A relaxed devotion
Where dreams are sought
Ah, the ocean!

Salt seasoned emotion
With stress unfraught  
Like a potion

Dispelling commotion
Though gray gulls plot.
Ah, the ocean!
Like a potion!

Donna JT Smith ©2024

W is for Whimsy

Good Words Alphabetically: W is for Whimsy

Whimsy

Often we must have a plan to get a good job done
Practical and to the point and mostly not much fun
But sometimes on our straight-laced path we need a bit of whimsy
A bit of “who knows what’s in store”, a touch of something flimsy
Nothing crudely horrible to give us pause to cringe
Just a bit of who knows what, a little bit unhinged
When there’s nothing pressing that needs doing on the dot
that’s the time to take a break and do the stuff that’s not
Responsible and grown up, dependable and sure
To try something that’s more whimsical, silly, fun and pure
Have a wiggly, jiggly giggle, add a whirly twirly spin
Sweep the cobwebs from your brain, let pink cotton candy in.
Get a chocolate ice cream cone. How high you can swing?
Blow some bubbles, pop them too. How loudly can you sing?
Fly a kite, and dig in sand, try standing on your head.
I wouldn't recommend though, to be jumping on the bed...
But do some things just on a whim, a path not trod in years
and see if maybe for a while you'll turn some fears to cheers.
Tomorrow you'll be practical and all grown up again
But today for just a little while get a crayon, toss the pen!

By Donna JT Smith ©️2024