Reflections on the Teche

Slice of Life: Make Your Own Party

August 18, 2026 by margaretsmn

Thank you to Two Writing Teachers for creating an amazing community of writers and a safe, welcoming space to write and share.

A week ago today was my 65th birthday. Normally, when I was teaching, my August birthday fell on one of the first days of school, so finding time to celebrate was not a high priority. But this year, I am retired. With no school year to plan, I decided to give myself a birthday party. Or rather, I asked my friends to bring the party with them.

I created the invitation in Canva and sent it by text to about 25 of my favorite women.

All I provided was water and iced mint tea, a platter of fruit, and chocolate chip cookies my husband insisted on buying. (He wanted to buy a cake.) Each guest arrived with something fun to eat.

The spread!

My friend Susan asked if she could provide the music. She played her harp in my entryway.

Mermaid Music Studio

I should have had name tags because not everyone knew each other. There was lots of conversation. I didn’t stop smiling for the full two hours. I was surrounded by feminine energy (the best kind) and women who love me and genuinely enjoyed each other’s company.

I’m currently looking at my kitchen table full of cards and gifts that bring joy. Not only did these women make tasty party food, they also know how to give gifts with meaning and heart. I only wish I could’ve had all of you, my Slicing friends, too.

Posted in Slice of Life, Writing | Tagged birthday | 12 Comments »

Poetry Friday: Notes on a Walk Along Paris Avenue

August 14, 2026 by margaretsmn

Poetry Friday is hosted today by my dear Inkling friend in Maine, Molly Hogan at Nix the Comfort Zone.

This week I celebrated my 65th birthday with my family on Tuesday in New Orleans. I have been babysitting my youngest grandchildren, June (3.5 years) and Sam (13 months) while my daughter and son-in-law work. The kids are adorable and exhausting, entertaining and a physical work-out, especially Sam who is climbing and into everything.

My favorite moments include nightly story time. June squeezes in next to me on the glider. Sam loves holding the book and babbling like he is reading along.

Yesterday while June napped, I took Sammy out in the stroller. He is happy being outside, even in mid-90 temperatures.

Notes on a Walk along Paris Avenue, New Orleans.

As the stroller passes, a squirrel leaps
to the next oak, blue reflections in its tail
as if the sky was caught there, unaware.

The baby hums along with the breeze,
a song dancing in his head.

Echoes from the neighborhood school garden:
”Clap, Clap, Clap! Listen!”

A Little Free Library opens
at the hummingbird house.

Bright pink Crepe Myrtle blossoms
canopy overhead, the only flower that blooms
in this heat.

My heart rate matches time with sidewalk bumps. Baby babbling softens as he sleeps.

Margaret Simon, draft

Posted in being mamére, nature, Poetry Friday, Writing | Tagged #beingmamére, gratitude | 13 Comments »

Poetry Friday: Map Collage Poem

August 7, 2026 by margaretsmn

Poetry Friday is being rounded up today by Ruth at There’s no such thing as a God-forsaken town.

As August began, the Inklings sat side by side in real person in the WhisperShout studio of our own Heidi Mordhorst. Linda Mitchell provided junk journals and collage materials. I knew this Poetry Friday would be an Inkling challenge given to us by Molly Hogan involving maps in some way.

So I played with paper, paint, pictures, and words. This is what happened. I like it. I don’t understand it, but I like it.

I am reminded of one of my favorite poems by Naomi Shihab Nye.

Naomi Shihab Nye, from **Everything Comes Next**

Here are links to other Inkling poems. Check them out:

Heidi at my juicy little universe

Mary Lee at A(nother) Year of Reading

Catherine at Reading to the Core

Molly at Nix the Comfort Zone

Linda at Another Word Edgewise

Posted in Writing | Tagged #smallpoems, Inklings challenge, maps | 20 Comments »

Spiritual Journey First Thursday: Hanging onto Authenticity

August 6, 2026 by margaretsmn

Linda Mitchell is gathering the Spiritual Journey posts this month. She asked us to write what’s on our hearts and in our spirits today.

Have you ever pulled a card from an oracle deck? Did it hit you right where your mind and heart had been hanging on?

My daughter gave me a beautiful oracle deck by Katharine Ryalls, Roots & Wings. I brought it with me on the Inklings writing retreat this past weekend.

I don’t often have the experience of seeing wild rabbits, but there was a mother and child hanging around Heidi’s house in Maryland.

Coincidence or spiritual woo-woo, I picked the bunny card.

“Knowing your true genuine self. Actions and words speak your truth aligning with who you are in your deepest truest core.”

When I saw the bunny mother hop across the lawn, baby bunny was not far behind. My whole heart gasped in JOY, and I squealed like a young child waking my friends to “come and see.” Share my glee!

Are we closest to authenticity in laughter, sharing a moment of sincere joy? Should I look to my child self to find my authentic me? Living a life of presence and gratitude rather than trying to be who I think I “should” be?

Bunny hops, stops, waits
for our eyes, joyful laughter
to catch us alive!

I told my daughter the bunny story, about the oracle reading, and she sent me this photo of Leo, who, like me, had picked the bunny in her own oracle deck. Connection or coincidence?

Either way, I am embracing the bunny aura and feeling comfortable in my own authenticity.

What helps you to feel your authentic self?

Posted in Spiritual Growth, Writing | Tagged authentic voice, haibun, oracle deck, spiritual journey | 7 Comments »

Slice of Life: Inklings Retreat

August 4, 2026 by margaretsmn

I’m home. Albert is snuggling on my lap, and I am deeply satisfied from the first ever Inklings writing retreat.

Back in 2014, the Two Writing Teachers team worked to organize writing groups among the Slicers. The one I was placed into never got off the ground, but at NCTE, Melanie Meehan invited me to join her group. The only two members from the original group are me and Catherine Flynn. Catherine and I were most interested in writing poetry, so we sought out poets from the blogging world who shared our passion. Eventually we landed on a stable core of 6 poets, Linda Mitchell, Heidi Mordhorst, Mary Lee Hahn, Molly Hogan, Catherine and me.

As the years went on, we met twice monthly on Zoom (or whatever was working) and saw each other at NCTE or on vacation; however, we’ve never been all together in one place. We talked about it for years. This year we began planning in January when Heidi announced she was moving to London. She offered to host us all at her writing studio, WhisperShout, in Maryland.

I’m still amazed at the logistical miracle. Accommodations from Heidi’s neighbors, food, field trips, flights (I was the only one who flew), desserts, and a colorful spreadsheet.

We took a field trip on Friday to Planet Word. If you are ever in D.C., you must go!

Inklings: Mary Lee Hahn, Molly Hogan, Margaret Simon, Linda Mitchell, Heidi Mordhorst, and Catherine Flynn.

On Saturday, we joined Laura Shovan’s writing retreat in Clarksville, Maryland. I had a comfortable writing spot on her back patio.

Writing in Laura’s Secret Garden. I wish you could hear the birds singing and see the butterflies.

On Sunday, we walked to a neighborhood farm.

And in between meals and field trips, we gathered in the studio and wrote together. When you meet a group of people virtually, you never really know how face to face with each other will be. Maybe because we’ve waited for this for so long. Maybe because we are all teachers and poets. Maybe because we are all of a similar age. Who knows why and I don’t care to question it, really, but these are my peeps. I’ll love you forever!

Posted in Slice of Life, Travel, Writing | Tagged Inklings, writing retreat | 7 Comments »

Poetry Friday: July Pantoum

July 31, 2026 by margaretsmn

Poetry Friday is gathered today by Tabatha Yeatts.

I am in a comfortable space on Heidi Mordhorst’s front porch for our long awaited Inklings retreat. We’ve been meeting on Zoom as a writing group for around 10 years and this is the first time we’ve been together in person. Heidi’s front porch welcomes the morning sun and is a perfect place to sit with coffee and type a PF post.

I don’t always participate in the Poetry Sisters’ challenge; however, this month’s prompt is a favorite of mine, Pádraig Ó Tuama’s Pantoum.

July Sings, Sizzles

Cicada song sizzles with rising heat.
My neck sweats, wet like a glass of iced tea.
I feel my body slowing down.
Even the birds stop singing by ten.

My neck’s wet like a glass sweats.
Shade just an illusion of cool.
Even the birds stop singing by ten.
Yet, today I release another butterfly.

Shade, an illusion of cool, waits
for grief like the great blue heron he drew.
So today I release another butterfly.
I had a dream he returned like the sun.

Grief is the great blue heron he watched.
I feel my own body slowing down.
I had a dream he returned as my son.
Cicada song rising with the heat.

Posted in Poetry Friday, Writing | Tagged #Poetrypals, pantoum | 8 Comments »

Slice of Life: Sitting with Nature

July 28, 2026 by margaretsmn

Black belly whistling ducks gather at the nesting box.

We’ve been waiting for a clutch of black bellied whistling ducks to hatch from our wood duck house. After the hatching in June, Jeff cleaned out the house. I requested that he leave it open in case we would get another mother. You leave it, they will come. And sure enough on June 24 or so, the new mother began sitting.

On Sunday, I noticed the little bee patterned babies hatching in the house. (We use a Ring doorbell camera, so we can watch from the phone.) On Monday morning, I opened the app to watch the baby ducklings climb up and jump out. Similar to wood ducks, the whistlers also jump 24 hours after hatching.

Unfortunately, the camera stopped recording. Low battery. We have a solar panel that charges the battery and Jeff supposed that since the trees are full, the panel doesn’t get as much light. What a time for the battery to fail!

After my coffee, I perched outside to watch the Jump Day festivities.

The whistlers gather around. There were four of them whistling and carrying on. I waited.

While I waited a beautiful blue heron flew by.

Great blue heron flying over the bayou.

Finally, one of the ducklings jumped out. Let’s call him Eager. The mother soon followed and more babies jumped. I counted seven total.

Interestingly, the mother and father ducks chased off the other whistlers that had gathered. The couple alone led the ducklings.

Mother and Father whistling ducks look for safety for their brood.

Eager, the little rogue, jumped in and paddled off on his own. Father went after him.

Eager duckling swims away from his family.

I’m afraid that was my signal to go inside and let nature do as nature does. I don’t know if Eager was reunited with his family, but for the sake of a happy ending, let’s say he was.

Posted in nature, Slice of Life, Writing | Tagged #bayoulife, Bayou Teche, black bellied whistling duck, wood duck nesting box | 12 Comments »

Slice of Life: Snarky Poet

July 21, 2026 by margaretsmn

I’m not usually a snarky poet, so I surprised myself with my response to Glenda’s prompt on Ethical ELA Open Write: Double Consciousness American Sonnet.

Glenda took inspiration from Terrence Hayes’ book American Sonnet for my Past and Future Assassin. “I lock you in an American sonnet that is part prison,
Part panic closet, a little room in a house set aflame.”

I borrowed the opening line to write about a parking lot annoyance of mine, backing in. The title is a play on words. My grandson asked me if “pissed” was a bad word. Then he playfully asked about “piston”.

Parking Lot Piston

I lock you in your white Ford truck backed in over the yellow line.
You are not my kind, hefty and trumped
on four jacked-up off-road tires
designed to crush little people like me
with your oversized parts.

I won’t hitch up my skirt to take a ride.
I park nose-front & take my time
not to cross the line. I return
the wire buggy to the cart-horse paddock,
flash a fake smile to the sweaty boy
maneuvering the train.

I hold my superiority under my side slung purse
where my soft belly holds verses of quiet fortitude.

Margaret Simon, draft

Posted in Poetry, Slice of Life, Writing | Tagged American Sonnet, Ethical ELA, Glenda Funk, Terrance Hayes | 11 Comments »

Poetry Friday: Summer Poetry Postcards

July 17, 2026 by margaretsmn

Poetry Friday is being hosted by Jill. She offers an instructional video on making zines.

A few months ago I joined a poetry postcard exchange group. I’ve received creative handmade postcards and poems from people I’ve never met. It is so much fun to find one tucked into my mailbox, a bit of sunshine on a cloudy day. I need to figure out a way to keep them so that I can enjoy both sides. Any ideas?

This month I sent out a photo card I made on Canva using a photo of passion flower.

The poet
finds a prayer
on the passion vine
resting on yellow anther
sprinkling pollen
on bumblebees.

The hope is in the bee’s
instinct to stick around.
*Margaret Simon*

I’m also participating in the Summer Poem Swap that Tabatha organizes. I received a Little Golden Book handmade book from Linda Mitchell. I love that she kept all the pages from the original book.

Little Golden Book journal made by Linda Mitchell.

I’m using it to do collage journaling about my summer. Here is a page spread I made about birds. The watercolor goldfinch is from an Emily Lex Studio watercolor painting book.

In what ways are you embracing poetry and creativity this summer?

I want to thank Joyce Uglow for featuring me and my book “What’s That Sound? Birds of the Bayou” on her uGroNews series this week.

I have moved “This Photo Wants to be a Poem” to my Substack. Please consider subscribing so that it will show up in your inbox.

Posted in Poetry Friday, Writing | Tagged poetry postcard, Summer Poetry Swap | 17 Comments »

Slice of Life: Summer on the Bayou

July 14, 2026 by margaretsmn

Today, I am featured in an interview with picture book author Joyce Uglow on her Substack series uGROnews. Please skip over to learn more about my process in writing What’s That Sound? Birds of the Bayou.

Our bayou life has slowed to the rhythm of summer. Because of the longer days, we were able to feed our hungry grandchildren, then head out for a jaunt on the bayou. Stella at age 5.5 likes to say she’s scared, but we encourage her with reminders like “Once you’re in the boat, you will have fun!” She doesn’t like the process of getting in. The canoe wobbles. Each time gets a little easier. This Sunday evening, she climbed in without crying. Her older brother Leo acts as an expert.

Loading up the canoe for a summer evening paddle.

I followed in my kayak. I am no expert at kayaking. I go slow, slow, back and forth. My arms tire out pretty quickly. Apparently Leo got worried about me. He said, “I want to go back to get Mamére.”