Line 17 - Why, That's My Line!

Before this month's Progressive Poem even began, Heidi gave us an assignment. She asked us to write down our thoughts about the first line, and our predictions for how the poem would go. I have to confess that I didn't write anything down, but I did think about the line, and silently appreciated the fact that our protagonist was a seed. Lately I've been thinking this phrase often, a phrase relevant to more areas of my life than you might expect: Seeds, not switches. I don't know who created this phrase originally but the first person I heard use it was Rob Bell. He was talking about how many processes are slow, organic, unpredictable, not started by flipping a switch but by planting a seed. I've thought about how often, in my teaching, for example, I want results and I want them right now. I'm in a hurry, not wanting to let things take their course. That's what I thought about the line: Let's see what happens. Let's let this little seed grow as it wants to.

And wow, it's really grown!

I started writing my line the way I start a lot of my writing: by looking at pictures. But let me back up a little.

When I woke up on Monday morning, one of the first things I did was upload four photos to Facebook. I've been doing a Photo a Day project; this is the second year that I am posting daily photos responding to prompts I find here. Today's prompt was "Striking." On Sunday I took some photos of a plant I found especially striking. Here are a couple of the photos I shared:

Right after I posted the photos, I clicked on Monday's line of the poem and read it. I thought about it, enjoyed it, reread it, thought some more. I loved the "trellis...made of braided wind and song." Isn't that beautiful?

But I needed some pictures in my head to get me started. I started Googling images. I started with a trellis, and then jasmine. And that second search term brought me a whole bunch of pictures that looked exactly like my striking plant, except they were white. Wait, I thought, is that plant actually jasmine? That would be just too magical to be true.  Or maybe too creepy to be true, with Google spying on what I just posted on Facebook.  Hmmm.....

I typed in "purple jasmine" and found a lot of pictures of a Disney princess in a purple dress, and then some flowers that are purple and in the jasmine family. I don't think my plant is jasmine, but it sure does look a lot like it. I think it's purple wreath.  Is purple wreath related to jasmine? I inquired earnestly of Google, and again, I don't think it is, but there is such a thing as purple jasmine, I learned, and another name for that is star jasmine.

I wanted so much to write about flowers in my line, but I couldn't. It isn't time yet. The star-shaped flowers hanging out with the wily Moon can't grow until there's a place for them to live. You can't rush seeds.  Seeds, not switches.

I wanted to continue the song that Sarah Grace started. After all, we are at a party. I watched some YouTube videos showing time-lapse photography of plants growing, and finally, after thinking about it all day, I wrote my line, all seven words of it. I hope you like it. I especially hope Christie likes it, since she has to add tomorrow's line.

So here it is, the Progressive Poem, with my line added at the end in bold:

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 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.


Keep following the journey of the Progressive Poem by clicking on the blogs in the list below.  I wonder what will happen?


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 at 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 Amy at The Poem Farm

24 Mary Lee at A Year of Reading

25 Kiesha at Whispers from the Ridge

26 Renee at No Water River

27 Buffy at Buffy's Blog

28 Kat at Kat's Whiskers

29 April at Teaching Authors

30 Doraine at Dori Reads