The Kidlitosphere Progressive Poem is hosted by poet, Irene Latham. The poem is crafted by thirty different poets. It's so much fun to watch how each unique personally moves this creative infant to adulthood. Today is my turn, so the last line is my humble effort... thanks Irene for pushing me out of my comfort zone.
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
Green pirogue, crawfish trap, startled fisherman
with turquoise eyes, twins of her own, riveted on her wrist–
She’s swifter than a dolphin, slipping away, leaving him only a handful of
memories of his own grandmother’s counsel: Watch for her. You’ll have but one chance todetermine—to decide. Garner wisdom from the water and from the pearl of the past.
In a quicksilver flash, an arc of resolution, he leaps into the shimmering water Where hidden sentries restrain any pursuit and the bitter taste of impulse
rushes into his lungs
2015 Kidlitosphere Progressive Poem Team:
