What's My Line? 2026
- Cathy Stenquist
- Apr 2
- 3 min read
It's my turn to play. I can't wait!
Each year, beginning April 1st, POETRY FRIDAY friends and other poetry lovers are invited to join the fun, as a poem travels daily from blog to blog, with each host adding a line. A big thank you to poet Irene Latham for creating The Kid Lit Progressive Poem, which was a way to celebrate National Poetry Month (April) as a community of writers.
This year, I was assigned WEEK #2.
Exciting but scary—with only one line ahead of me, the possibilities are endless! I needed to really think about this.
Tabatha @ The Opposite of Indifference blog wrote the first line and chose the destination for our journey. Can you guess from this lovely watercolor where we are headed?
What an amazing opening line to kick this poem off. Thanks, Tabatha!
"On my first trip to the Land of Poetry,"
Ooh.... a field trip with a bus full of poets! I'm ready, let's go!
We're packed, and Tabatha is taking the first shift. Time for me to jump into the passenger seat and think of the next line.
All aboard!
Here's a bit of how I came up with my line.
Visualizing really helps me. So first, I sat down with a hot cup of tea and brainstormed about a trip to the land of poetry.
What would I pack?
Who would I bring?
What sights would I see?
Then I thought it might be fun to incorporate some of the tools we use when writing poetry:
Meter?
Repetition?
Rhyme?
The wheels started turning and suddenly I had too much to say, and only one line to add!
Hmmmm...
Then I remembered:
Metaphor.
Metaphor is one of the most used poetic devices, both in literature and in our day-to-day speech. It compares one thing to something completely different to help the reader see the image in a new and unexpected way.
For example:
Life is a rollercoaster.
The classroom was a zoo.
The moon was a silver lantern.
Yes! That's it! This could be fun.
What could the dock be made of? Pencils?
What kind of flags would welcome me? Pages of poems?
What would I hear? Lyrical wind?
But one image kept coming to mind...
Books of poetry - as tall as buildings!
I had my metaphor!
Doesn't this look like a cool place to visit?
So, here it is— the poem so far, with my line added in bold.
Time to pass it on to:
**********************************
Patricia Franz at Reverie to add a line. Here it is to copy for your blog, Patricia. Can't wait to see what you come up with!
On my first trip to the Land of Poetry,
I saw anthologies of every color, tall as buildings.
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Click on the links below to travel along with our April poem!
And much thanks to poet Margaret Simon, who organizes it each year.
April 1 Tabatha Yeatts at The Opposite of Indifference
April 2 Cathy Stenquist at A Little Bit of This and That
April 3 Patricia Franz at Reverie
April 4 Donna Smith at Mainely Write
April 5 Janice Scully at Salt City Verse
April 6 Denise Krebs at Dare to Care
April 7 Ruth Hersey at There is no such thing as a God-forsaken town
April 8 Rose Cappelli at Imagine the Possibilities
April 9 Margaret Simon at Reflections on the Teche
April 10 Janet Clare Fagel at Reflections on the Teche
April 11 Diane Davis at Starting Again in Poetry
April 12 Linda Baie atTeacher Dance
April 13 Linda Mitchell at Another Word Edgewise
April 14 Jone MacCulloch at Jone MacCulloch.com
April 15 Joyce Uglow at Storied Ink
April 16 Carol Varsalona atBeyond Literacy Link
April 17 Robyn Hood Black at Life on the Deckle Edge
April 18 Michele Kogan at More Art for All
April 19 Kim Johnson atCommon Threads
April 20Buffy Silverman at Buffy Silverman
April 21 Irene Latham at Live Your Poem
April 22 Karen Edmisten at Karen Edmisten
April 23 Heidi Mordhorst at my juicy little universe
April 24 Mary Lee Hahn at A(nother) Year of Reading
April 25 Tanita Davis at Fiction, instead of Lies
April 26 Sharon Roy atPedaling Poet
April 27 Tracey Kiff-Judson atTangles and Tails
April 28 TBD
April 29 TBD
April 30 TBD
Oh, Cathy, I loved reading about your process in finding your way to the next line of the poem. You've given me a nice model to follow when I write my line for the Land of Poetry poem. I love your photo of the VW bus and the tower of books. (Did you create those?) Thanks for a great second line.
Fun bus image, and thanks for dropping us off in a towering town of books Cathy!
So fun, Cathy! Can't wait to come up with a next line!
Anthology buildings! Love it. And I so appreciate the fun graphics and the wander through your very thoughtful thought process as you pondered your contribution. Well done and thanks so much, Cathy!
And now we're in a city, with poetry welcoming us! I love the idea, can see the words streaming out, Cathy! And, I love your bus, just ready for a poetic trip!