Join the Tuesday Slice of Life
Me with Sandy Sarr at a local restaurant.
I enjoy connecting with new people online. I met Sandy Sarr through a mutual friend. Our friend thought we would like each other because we are both authors. So I friended Sandy on Facebook, and we read each others’ blogs. But meeting someone face to face, the old fashioned way, is so much better.
Sandy has spent the month of May in Louisiana for the last three years. She comes to meet people and to work on her novel, The Road to Indigo ( her working title). We had brunch together on Saturday. Jen was right; we connected easily and immediately. Sandy is about to complete an MFA program and has been writing her novel for 3 years. This project led her to Louisiana to meet many different people. She has some wonderful stories, some of which give you the goosebumps because they are so full of connectedness and coincidence, the do-do-do-do-twilight effect. Please visit her blog The Road to Indigo to read about her process of writing.
I wrote a poem for Sandy. I am attempting to post the Soundcloud recording of it.
The Road to Indigo
The traiteur says the stories are yours to tell.For Sandra Sarr
The traveler arrives from Puget Sound
to paddle a pirogue on the bayou.
She sees the black alligator on the bank
dive deep, barely rustling the burnished water.She knows there are stories hiding here.
No longer alone, the train’s whistle
awakens her as it weaves
in and out of her mind
leading her on a journey.Tracks cross as if joined for a greater purpose.
An artist,
a poet,
a healer,
a plantation proprietor
all tell their stories—
tell her to make them live again.The steam trumpet pierces her skin,
opens blood vessels to bleed
something new of something old—
something profound,
something healing,
something eternal
–Margaret Simon, all rights reserved
Reflections on the Teche 
What a lovely way to celebrate a new friendship.
Margaret, I am beyond touched by your poem. Gorgeous! After listening to you read it, sun rising, I stepped outside Bonne Terre Cottage and stood on the Louisiana dirt thanking the story that brought me here. And thanking you for capturing a slice of this joie de vivre.
Your comment sounds like another poem.
What a wonderful thing to meet, Margaret & then to write a poem for your new friend! It’s lovely and quite intriguing. Now I’ll need to wait for that book coming! Thank you!
Margaret, What a beautiful poem and gift to your friend. And your recording is just perfect: “something profound,/something healing,/something eternal.” I love hearing your voice. Thank you! a.
Amy,
What an honor for you to visit, read, listen, and comment. You are such an inspiration to me. Thanks!
Margaret, I just listened to you reading your poem. How powerful and I so agree that as much as I love my online connections, that face-to-face takes you to another place.
[…] writing a novel, “The Road to Indigo.” (To read about our meeting and my poem for her, click here.) Sandy’s MFA program required that she write in all genres. She wrote this poem while taking […]
[…] https://reflectionsontheteche.wordpress.com/2013/05/28/the-road-to-indigo/ […]
[…] I was invited by my friend, Sandra Sarr, to participate in a writing process blog tour. Sandra completed her MFA from the Northwest Institute of Literary Arts, Whidbey Writers Workshop, in 2013. She is currently seeking representation for her first novel, The Road to Indigo. I met Sandy last May when she was visiting Louisiana to complete her research for her novel. Sandy blogs at The Road to Indigo. I wrote a poem for her last year and posted it here. […]
Reblogged this on The Road to Indigo and commented:
I am sitting on the porch of Bonne Terre Cottage in Breaux Bridge, Louisiana, with Margaret Simon sipping mint tea and talking writing an life. Margaret wrote a poem for me after our visit last year. I share it with you here.