NPM Spring Cleaning Day 11, I Dream a World

 

In March, Kay McGriff shared this post in which she responded to two poems entitled "I Dream a World." One was by Margaret Noodin and you can read it here. The other was by Langston Hughes, and you can read that one here. You can also watch the wonderful Google Doodle video made in honor of Hughes' 113th birthday below. 

 

 

Kay wrote her own "I Dream a World" poem, and I kept the tab open because I wanted to try one, too. I soon realized that the challenge was to keep from sounding like a UN manifesto. All of my mentor poems had avoided this fate, but I doubted I would. My first draft certainly had that document-made-by-a-committee feel to it. See what you think of this version:

I Dream a World

by Ruth Hersey

I dream a world of kindness,
where the Golden Rule is guide,
where everyone has value
and knows it deep inside.

I dream a world of safety;
no kidnapping or crime,
a world where every family
sleeps in peaceful time.

I dream a world of justice,
where every shade of skin
is honored and is cherished
and everyone can win.

I dream a world of knowledge,
a world of books, not fears,
a world of free ideas,
a world of listening ears.

I dream a world of plenty,
not just for some, but all;
a world where none is hungry
and health’s for big and small.

I dream a world of beauty,
of green grass for each child,
a world of music and of art
where there is still some wild.

There are so many things I dream:
clean water, air, and sea,
love for each human being,
and birds in every tree.

This is the ninth year of the Progressive Poem! See the schedule below to find where to go for today's line and to see who's participating this year.

April 1 Kat Apel at Kat Whiskers
2 Linda Mitchell at A Word Edgewise
3 Mary Lee at A Year of Reading
4 Donna Smith at Mainly Write
5 Irene Latham at Live your Poem
6 Jan Godown Annino at BookseedStudio
7 Rose Cappelli at Imagine the Possibilities
8 Denise Krebs at Dare to Care
9 Margaret Simon at Reflections on the Teche
10 Molly Hogan at Nix the Comfort Zone
11 Buffy Silverman
12 Janet Fagel at Reflections on the Teche
13 Jone Rush MacCulloch
14 Susan Bruck at Soul Blossom Living
15 Wendy Taleo at Tales in eLearning
16 Heidi Mordhorst at my juicy little universe
17 Tricia Stohr Hunt at The Miss Rumphius Effect
18 Linda Baie at Teacher Dance
19 Carol Varsalona at Beyond Literacy Link
20 Robyn Hood Black at Life on the Deckle Edge
21 Leigh Anne Eck at A Day in the Life
22 Ruth Hersey at There is No Such Thing as a God-forsaken Town
23 Janice Scully at Salt City Verse
24 Tabatha Yeatts at The Opposite of Indifference
25 Shari Daniels at Islands of my Soul
26 Tim Gels at Yet There is Method at https://timgels.com
27 Rebecca Newman
28 Catherine Flynn at Reading to the Core
29 Christie Wyman at Wondering and Wondering
30 Michelle Kogan at More Art 4 All

 

And here's a roundup of some of the amazing, creative projects going on during NPM this year.