Reflections on the Teche

SOLC Day 3: Let Us March

March 3, 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.

On Friday, I taught a writing workshop around my book Were You There? A Biography of Emma Wakefield Paillet. (Click the link to find out more about the book.) I had sent out a few feelers with people I knew to get gigs around Black History Month. I was excited and a little daunted to teach a senior AP class at Ascension High School. But the kids were great! They were engaged from the start and had limited experience with poetry.

The found poem form is a wonderful form to use with students new to poetry. They have the words in front of them. It takes some higher level thinking to synthesize the words into a new text, a poem.

We were using the text of Martin Luther King, Jr.’s speech at Selma at the conclusion of the Selma to Montgomery march in 1965. Four of the students shared their poems with me.

Untitled
by Martha O.

Our divided masses began awakening,
began uniting

to meet this threat, to follow the roots

today the state of the American dream will be transformed

Let us march
Let us march
Let us march on in honor, in struggle
and in faith

Transform dark yesterdays into
bright tomorrows

As I Stood on a Stage

By Rorie W.

As I stood on a stage,
all I can see is people.
Blacks and whites,
some young, some old.
Some shoot me angry glares with snarling lips,
some look as if I hold their fate in my hands.

As I look out into the mass,
I am filled with emotions plenty.
Fear and anger, but most importantly hope.

I hope for the day of unity, the day of peace
so, when I stand on the stage,
I don’t see only Black, only white,

All I can see is people.

The Right to Vote
By Luke H.

They revised the doctrine of white supremacy
laws of the South made it a crime to come together as equals.
That’s what happened when the South threatened to unite.
We are on the move now.
Ghettos?
Let us march!
Social and economic depression?
Let us marchLet!
Ballot boxes?
Let us march!
Until brotherhood becomes more than a meaningless word.
Let us march!

Let Us March
by Cameron A.

I want to tell the city of Selma
We are on the move now
Let us continue our triumphant march
to the realization of the American dream.

Let us march on segregated housing.
Let us march on poverty.
Let us march on ballot boxes.

We are still in for a season of suffering
in many counties of Alabama,
many areas of Mississippi,
many areas of Louisiana.

We must come to see that the end we seek
is a society at peace with itself.

That will be the day of man as man.

Please leave a comment to encourage these students.

Gator mascot greeted me at the entrance to the school. Yikes!

Posted in Teaching, Writing | Tagged Ascension Episcopal School, Dr. Martin Luther King, found poetry, student poems | 2 Comments »

SOLC Day 2: The Batture

March 2, 2026 by margaretsmn

Granddaughter Stella (right) chats with friend Holland.

On Saturday, my daughter organized a celebration of her birthday to be at The Batture. I had not heard of this place and, frankly, have had a hard time remembering the name. Have you ever heard the term?

My research turned up this description: “Batture refers to the alluvial land between the low-tide of the Mississippi and the levee. The word “batture” comes from the French word “to beat,” referring to the land “beaten” by the river. It is a land formed by accretion; as the mighty Mississippi moves on her way to the Gulf of Mexico, she leaves behind deposits of land which, over time, form the batture. Heavy flooding can cause the batture to increase significantly in a matter of a few years. Maps from the 19th century show that the batture doubled in size in less than a hundred years.” (The Law Library of Louisiana)

This space which makes up a 10-acre tract of land has been claimed and cleaned up for a park. It’s amazing, really. Clean! There were people working constantly to clean up after messy guests. (Our grandchildren)

Open space for active children to fly kites, toss balls, play soccer, dig in sand, a natural playground.

Food Trucks! We ate a yummy burger and Brussels sprouts from Bub’s. Grant, my son-in-law, stood in line for more than an hour to get the very last tray of crawfish.

The entrance to the Batture in New Orleans, LA.

Industrial, modern design along with a small petting zoo, fresh gardens, and colorful Adirondack chairs.

“Front porch of the Mississippi”

I think my daughter chose it because she could have grown-up time talking with her friends while her children played and ate their first snoballs of the season. My favorite part was Sammy snuggles. He’s my youngest grandson (7 months) who still loves to be held.

My niece, Taylor, gets some Sammy snuggles.

What new places are you ready to explore this spring?

Posted in Slice of Life, Writing | Tagged family, New Orleans, The Batture Park | 12 Comments »

Slice of Life Challenge Day One (SOLC: 1) Crochet Butterflies

March 1, 2026 by margaretsmn

Get ready, readers, today is the first day of March which means for the next two months I will be posting daily. In March for the Slice of Life Challenge hosted by the Two Writing Teachers and in April for National Poetry Month.

In the early days of February I was babysitting my grandson in New Orleans. I went on a walk around their neighborhood and found a cute Little Free Library. In the box, there was a small clear ziplock holding a crocheted butterfly.

I crochet and have a crochet group I attend at the local Methodist Church. I brought this along to see if anyone could figure out how it was made. We discussed it. Then I realized that YouTube would be my best bet for finding the pattern. https://youtu.be/0roMpWheBec?si=oHX52nLBuufWV7GL

I made one using some left over rainbow yarn.

Isn’t it adorable? I decided all my grandchildren will be getting butterflies in their Easter baskets.

Do you have a hobby that is soothing and fun to share with others?

Posted in Slice of Life, Writing | Tagged crochet, hobby, Little Free Library, SOLC2026 | 12 Comments »

Poetry Friday: Open Write

February 26, 2026 by margaretsmn

Poetry Friday is here today! Please scroll to inLinkz to post your link.

In addition to Poetry Friday, one of my favorite places to hang out is Ethical ELA during the monthly Open Write. This month we were hosted by Stacey Joy and Seana Hurd Wright.

I am sharing three poems I wrote in response to their prompts.

I Believe in Morning

reflections
bayou glows
heron hunts

chickadee
dee-dee-dees
feeder swings

doodle curls
on my lap
All is well

“Let us open and open without knowing how” Billy Merrell from “Moth” ( found in Dictionary for a Better World)

Like the butterfly in spring, Let
your heart know the us
of the universe: We open
the screen door and
swallowtail flies to the open
skies without
anyone holding on or even knowing
where it was going, just how.

This week giant swallowtail butterflies hatched from their over winter chrysalises.

St. James Tricube

In this place
veil lifted
parting kiss

In this place
holy water
baby blessed

In this place
ashes laid
eternal rest

My home church, St. James Episcopal Church

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!Click here to enter

Posted in Poetry Friday, Writing | Tagged Butterflies, Ethical ELA, open write, tricube | 32 Comments »

Slice of Life: Dancing with a Paintbrush

February 24, 2026 by margaretsmn

This morning I taught three third grade classes for the Teaching Artist Program with the Acadiana Center for the Arts. In my retirement, I found a way to teach and have fun. This is it!

The students were filled with joy and freedom while painting with watercolors. I played music to inspire their color choices. Some created abstract designs while others painted subjects they knew and loved.

After two music and painting sessions, they wrote a poem about their favorite painting.

Just look at their faces! I told them that I am happiest with a room full of kids writing.

Third grade students at Pesson Elementary

Posted in Creativity, Slice of Life, Teaching, Writing | Tagged Acadiana Center for the Arts, student poems, Teaching Artist | 9 Comments »

Poetry Friday: A Dark Night

February 20, 2026 by margaretsmn

Poetry Friday is hosting today by Susan at Chicken Spaghetti.

Susan Thomsen posted a prompt from David Lehman to use the last line of Walt Whitman’s Song of Myself as a first line to a new poem. I have my grandchildren spending the night, and we read a silly scary story called The Dark Night. I went back to a New Year’s prompt from Pádraig Ó Tuama for a pantoum about the night.

The Dark Night
I stop somewhere waiting for you.
Footsteps clonking on wooden stairs—
Womblike whoosh of your sound machine,
Your shadow shape shifts in the low light.

Footsteps tender on wooden stairs.
Owl “who-cooks-for-you” wakes;
its shadow shape shifts in this low light.
Time stands still.

Owl hoots who-cooks-for-you
as I breathe your scent before you’re here.
Time stands still.
Will my love be good enough?

I breathe your sleeping scent.
Womblike whooshes from your sound machine.
Will my loving arms be enough?
I stop somewhere waiting for you.

Posted in being mamére, Poetry, Poetry Friday, Writing | Tagged pantoum, Walt Whitman | 13 Comments »

This Photo Wants to be a Poem: Oil Spill Quilt

February 18, 2026 by margaretsmn

This weekend we visited the Lauren Rogers Museum of Art in Laurel, Mississippi. There was a special show entitled “Art Evolved: Intertwined.” The exhibit featured the “convergence of quilting and basketry—two ancient, tactile traditions reimagined through contemporary fiber arts.”

This quilt was titled “Oil Spill”. My friend commented, “How can something so cheerful and vibrant be about an oil spill.”

“Oil Spill” by Michelle Lipson, quilt included in “Art Evolved: Intertwined” exhibit at Lauren Rogers Gallery of Art.

My eyes focused on the center panel with the yellow and purple “road”.

A Drop of Oil

forms a perfect circle
on the sidewalk of her yellow-brick road—
jazz spills out on the streets of New Orleans.
Don’t forget your dancing shoes.
Step lightly over the mess
in the streets.
Margaret Simon, draft

While I didn’t attend Mardi Gras this year, my social media is full of the images of others reveling. It is a fun time, but not without its share of mess.

Please join me in writing a draft of a small poem and share it in the comments. Support other writers with your comments. Thanks for being here.

Posted in Photography, Poetry, This Photo Wants to be a Poem, Travel, Writing | Tagged #smallpoems, Laurel MS, Lauren Rogers Museum of Art, quilt art | 2 Comments »

Slice of Life: Hometown

February 17, 2026 by margaretsmn

I grew up in Mississippi. This weekend with all of our children traveling elsewhere for the holiday (Mardi Gras, not President’s Day for South Louisiana), we decided to take a road trip back home to Mississippi.

Have you ever watched the popular HG network series Hometown that takes place in Laurel, MS? Our first stop on Saturday was this beautiful small town. We stayed in the historic district in a large home circa early 1900 called the Grandiflora. We enjoyed the friendly atmosphere and the homestyle breakfast served around the family breakfast table, cheese grits, bacon, eggs, biscuits, and fruit. Delicious and fun to meet couples from other places.

In the front parlor, a player piano played ragtime music.

This small town had much to offer. Next door to the Grandiflora, we attended an old Episcopal church, St. John’s, where we thoroughly enjoyed the most excellent choir that sang acapella and in Latin. We later learned that music students from USM come to sing and the music program is supported by an endowment.

Following the service, many friendly people greeted us and we made connections. One woman even knows my aunt who lives in Jackson. Sometimes the world feels small.

In Laurel, there is a magnificent art museum with a unique story. Lauren Rogers was a man from a wealthy family who tragically died at a young age. The family decided to build a museum in his honor. The collection is wide and wonderful and open free to the public. We happened upon a presentation by an artist-in-residence’s culminating exhibit. I was inspired by the work she did with local students using collage. Brejenn Allen

I wrote a small poem about her artwork.

Sea Sparkle

An eerie glow bears beautiful blue light
caused by farm waste
like the art we saw today fashioned from trash
soaked in colorful paints shines a light on how beauty bears witness to loss.

Onward to Jackson to see my brother. Here in Madison, north of Jackson, we are staying in a brand new BnB, which is good for me. As my first trip back after my mother’s death, I am happily in a new place away from painful memories. I was worried about how the feelings of grief may overwhelm me, but I’m OK. You can go home again by a different path.

Posted in Slice of Life, Travel, Writing | Tagged Grandiflora Inn, Laurel MS, Lauren Rogers Museum of Art | 5 Comments »

Poetry Friday: Poems for Every Season

February 13, 2026 by margaretsmn

Poetry Friday is hosted today by Robyn Hood Black at Life on the Deckle Edge.

I received an advance copy of a new poetry book from Eerdmans Books for Young Readers. Have you ever read a book that just feels good in your hands?

Poems for Every Season: A Year of Haiku, Sonnets, and More by Bette Westera offers a number of different poetry forms translated by David Colmer. Each page is a comforting woodcut design by Henriette Boerendans.

Poems For Every Season, publishing date Feb. 17, 2026

Each poem is a delight of language, form, imagery, and the miracles of nature.

The final poem is a sonnet for February. Just when you think it’s warm enough to go outside and sow some seeds, winter makes another appearance.

Prompted by Susan Brisson in Laura Shovan’s February Challenge to write a Cento poem, I turned each page of this book to find a poem.

Roaming the Seasons

Pale petals drift down
Green buds will soon be showing on trees.
Velvety bees
Carving a nest
Buzz by
Among the yellow buttercups
Clear
I need sun
Under a blanket of leaves
Gathering growing sheltering
All curled up in my cozy bed.
We like it here and we stay.

Cento by Margaret Simon from Poems For Every Season by Bette Westera, translated by David Colmer.

Posted in Books, Poetry Friday, Writing | Tagged Bette Westera, cento, Eerdmans, picture book review | 15 Comments »

This Photo Wants to be a Poem: Out of Ashes

February 11, 2026 by margaretsmn

This art piece was lying on my sister’s kitchen counter. I picked it up and asked her about it. She said she found some charred wood outside from her outdoor fireplace and experimented with it. She then came inside and added more definition to the flowers with ink. She titled the piece “Out of Ashes.”

I often wonder where our creativity comes from. How sometimes the simplest things can become profound. (My One Little Word this year is Simplicity.)

I played with a haiku form today. Another seemingly simple short form. Out of simplicity, grace.