Progressive Poem is Here - Jessica Bigi

Having started this poem on April 1 with a two line dilemma and deciding to free myself up of the choice, Irene, our second poet and originator of the Progressive Poem back in 2012, got to select the first line.
Then she offered her two lines to the next poet.  And on and on it's gone.  The poem has come a long way, and has a nice flow.  It meanders with sights, sounds, smells, animals and now people...
Each poet has offered two of their lines for the next poet, so it's a Progressive Poem with a choose-your-own-adventure flavor.

It is Jessica Bigi's turn to select a line offered by Robyn Hood Black.  Here are the two enticing lines choices:

OPTION 1: I free up my banjo, quicken my pace

OPTION 2: I offer a wave but keep to my plan

Drum roll....
Jessica picked Option 1, so the poem reads so far...

Sweet violets shimmy, daffodils sway
along the wiregrass path to the lake.
I carry a rucksack of tasty cakes
and a banjo passed down from my gram.

I follow the tracks of deer and raccoon
and echo the call of a wandering loon.
A whispering breeze joins in our song
and night melts into a rose gold dawn.

Deep into nature's embrace, I fold.
Promise of spring helps shake the cold.
Hints of sun lightly dapple the trees
calling out the sleepy bees.

Leaf-litter crackles…I pause. Twig snaps.
I gasp! Shudder! Breathe out. Relax…
as a whitetail doe comes into view.
She shifts and spotted fawns debut.

We freeze. My green eyes and her brown
Meet and lock. Time slows down.
I scatter the cakes, backing away
Safely exiting this strange ballet.

I continue the path that winds down to the lake.
Missing my breakfast for beauty's sake.
But wait, what's that delicious smell?
Something familiar, I know so well.

It's a campfire. I follow my nose. I see

a circle of friends waving at me.

I free up my banjo, quicken my pace

And now Jessica Bigi offers two lines for Fran to choose the one that she thinks best suits where she'd like to go with the poem...Either way, this traveler is going to sit a spell it appears!  And maybe that's a very good thing!  We are so close to the end of our journey!

Option 1:

Find a place to sit and gaze into space

Option 2:
Find a place to sit and unlatch my banjo case

Only two more poets until we reach our destination...completed poem!

Now it's off to see what Fran Haley at lit bits and pieces makes of this!

Here's the progression of the poem:

1 Donna Smith at Mainely Write
2 Irene Latham at Live Your Poem
3 Jone MacCulloch, deowriter
4 Liz Steinglass
5 Buffy Silverman
6 Kay McGriff at https://kaymcgriff.edublogs.org/
7 Catherine Flynn at Reading to the Core
8 Tara Smith at Going to Walden
9 Carol Varsalona at Beyond Literacy Link
10 Matt Forrest Esenwine at Radio, Rhythm, and Rhyme
11 Janet Fagel, hosted at Reflections on the Teche
12 Linda Mitchell at A Word Edgewise
13 Kat Apel at Kat Whiskers
14 Margaret at Reflections on the Teche
15 Leigh Anne Eck at A Day in the Life
16 Linda Baie at Teacher Dance
17 Heidi Mordhorst at My Juicy Little Universe
18 Mary Lee Hahn at A Year of Reading
19 Tabatha at Opposite of Indifference
20 Rose Cappelli at Imagine the Possibilities
21 Janice Scully at Salt City Verse
22 Julieanne Harmatz at To Read, To Write, To Be
23 Ruth, thereisnosuchthingasagodforsakentown.blogspot.com
24 Christie Wyman at Wondering and Wandering
25 Amy at The Poem Farm
26 Dani Burtsfield at Doing the Work That Matters
27 Robyn Hood Black at Life on the Deckle Edge
28 Jessica Big at Mainely Write     
29 Fran Haley at lit bits and pieces
30 Michelle Kogan

Hello, My Name is Violet!

Have a happy Poetry Friday everyone. 

Amy Ludwig VanDerwater is hosting Poetry Friday today.

 Lift your eyes to the sky and look down by your feet.
You are sure to see something to catch your eye,
and help to remind you that we will be okay.
That is all.

Stay safe and smile at someone.


 Hello, My Name is Violet!

Hello, purple butterfly
Are you looking for a flower?
It’s quite early in the spring
We might just have a shower.

Hey! You are not a wing borne zipper,
But a violet sunlight sipper

You looked for all the world to me,
As you hovered over there,
To be a lovely butterfly
Just flitting in the air;

Spring’s gentle breezes fluttered you
And made your petals flounce
You may not be a butterfly
But you’re as pretty ounce for ounce.

By Donna JT Smith, 4/5/2020

Joyful Stuff in Trying Times

I am sharing my post here today, because every time I go back to edit something on that page today it loses one of my embedded things, and this last time it looked like it was going to delete the MrLinky again...so I'm staying put right here. Ha! In isolation!

One of the greatest joys of this time in self-quarantine has been the time to reconnect to God. And I count the self-quarantine time as starting Jan. 9  My "isolation" felt like it started the day I fell down the stairs and broke things that needed putting back together. It's the day I began regaining my joy. Life slowed down. It was painful and lonely. At rehab I'd kept asking to go outside even for a minute, but no one was available to help me get there and they kept telling me it was too cold. "yes, I know you are from Maine, but this is cold even for you." I'm sorry, how do they know that??? Me who stood outside at bus duty at 0 degrees and lower in Wisconsin winters?? And I wouldn't be out there long. One person even asked if I had a coat, and I smiled and said YES! But then they turned around and it was over. No trip outside. Everyone was busy and I couldn't do it alone. I looked out the window again. Pieces of joy shattered around me.

When those moments happened, I tried to scrape up some of the pieces and move on to others and their needs. I met some wonderful people going through rehab, and many of them were discouraged and lonely. I began reaching out to patients there to see if I could help with their joy, and it helped my own joy to grow.
There's joy in helping others through difficult times even when you yourself are going through difficulty.

When I finally got home with my daughter and grandchildren, I had a bed in the living room downstairs. There were very quiet times with the cat when everyone was gone. But the times they were there, I got great joy from the talks, the fashion shows, the Lego spaceships, the Sunday devotionals my 8 year old grandson would read to me from his book.
Oh, there's so much joy being a part of other's lives.

Then just as I was able to use a walker and could set the wheelchair and scooter aside...COVID19 struck. Because my upstairs in-law apartment had been vacant for 2+ months, it was a good place to try to get to and stay put. So with cane in hand and sturdy railing and daughter to help, I got up those dreaded stairs. I would not be coming down anytime soon. But I made it up there again finally.
There is joy in doing difficult things.

Up here, I began my own PT. I used the walker, progressed to just cane, and then the cane only half a day...and then decided I could go downstairs to take a walk outside - distancing of course. There's joy. I found some. There was a breeze and sun, and it was almost too warm for the coat. I didn't go anywhere. The stairs had been enough to do.
So now you know -

There's joy in a breeze,
joy in the sun;
joy in the living
each moment begun.

Joy's found in rain
it's pattering voice
tells you to listen -
you're given the choice.

There's hope to be found
keep faith not despair
re-open your heart
He'll place the joy there.

by Donna JT Smith, 4/2/2020

 *This is not the post I started. Not the poem. Everything is different. I had different things that have given me joy in my time upstairs...but I guess this is the one I was supposed to write. Let's see if it saves...

**Click on the link or use the URL, if you would like to see a VERY encouraging informative video done by a NY doctor who is up close and personal with COVID19 every day watch this.  It is long, so have your coffee or tea beside you.  You will want to watch it.  It will give you much hope and insight!
https://vimeo.com/399733860
I would embed it, but that hasn't gone well for me lately!

Spiritual Thursday: Joyful Stuff in Trying Times

Okay, a very bizarre thing just happened, and I will try to recreate my post in the morning.  I had this written and scheduled to post.  Then it absolutely disappeared.  The whole post. Lots of words. Wrote a haiku (which I will try to remember...)

All I can remember are the first and last lines now...  I'll think some more...

Blue sky buoys notes

?????

Overwhelming joy

I had found this on YouTube and was coming back to link to this when it all disappeared.  I came back to a blank page.  The title had changed and the words were all gone, and it was no longer scheduled to publish.  I scanned through my tabs to make sure I was on the right page and there was no other page open.  None.  I have no idea, but I will try to come back and write it again.


Here's what I was linking when I lost it all....oh, and this just disappeared and I retrieved it again!


So here's the Linky, and hopefully tomorrow morning early I can gather the thoughts together again.  I'm too tired now tonight.  It's almost 10.


And now the Linky has disappeared....let's go get it again.


I really don't understand what is going on tonight. It's like this post REALLY doesn't want to go up. It's literally trying to STEAL MY JOY!!