Last week Tabatha sent me the name of my 3rd Poem Swap for this summer. I was so excited to see Linda Baie‘s name. Linda is a presence in the kidlitosphere. She won the prize (a copy of my book Blessen) for the biggest commenter on my blog during the March Slice of Life Challenge with the Two Writing Teachers. I have embraced Linda as a cyber-friend with hopes to one day meet her in person. She is so kind and supportive, I wanted to do something special for her.
My father had given me back issues of art magazines to use in my classroom, so I pulled one out for inspiration. I found a poem in the words of the magazine. Then I decided to make a collage of pictures. That didn’t work out so well. While my result was something and may have been creative, it didn’t please me. It wasn’t good enough for Linda, so I made another one. This one pleased me. The found poem came from The International Artist. The images came from American Artist.
Introduce Play into your Art
a found poem from the International Artist
Imagine the surface
alive with light
not pure white—a combination
of source and object.Look out the window.
See a passenger train
in late afternoon,
a spider web
on a dewy morning,
the cornfield
below the horizon,
tree branches
on a rainy night.If you follow the light,
you will find the sun.
Light is like salt—
a little is all you need.–Margaret Simon
Poetry Friday is hosted today by Michelle at Today’s Little Ditty.
Reflections on the Teche 
Linda is a lucky lady to receive such a thoughtful gift, pulled out of the pages of a magazine and turned into something much more! Light may be like salt, but your poetry is not… I simply can’t get enough.
Thanks for your encouragement. Poetry can be so personal, yet by sharing it we touch others. Like art, a poem will mean something new to each person who views it.
I just returned home a while ago, Margaret. Sorry I didn’t see this first! What a lovely intro along with the already wonderful poem and collage. This thoughtfulness is what makes life very, very good! (A thank you is on the way!) And thank you tonight too!
I was hoping this post would not get to you before the poem did. What I didn’t say was how much fun I had doing this project. My husband asked me what I was doing and I said, “playing.”
Linda is such a lovely woman. Her comments on our site are always kind and meaningful. She does deserve this poem and fits in perfectly, as she can be a light…a tiny light that makes our blogging life quite enjoyable.
Lovely poem…
Linda makes me want to be a better person and better commenter. A little light on our path.
Your collage and found poem are perfect for Linda! “If you follow the light,
you will find the sun” — yes!
I enjoyed this, Margaret! Some found poems can seem disjointed or unnatural – but yours just flows so well. I especially like the end!
This is a poem that captures the Linda we have come to know- a ray of sunshine in our blogging universe.
Your poem and collage are as lovely as Linda is! What a neat idea. =)
I think everyone is enjoying the summer poetry swap.
Thank you for sharing your creation with the rest of us. I just got a really neat poem from Mary Lee Hahn titled ABOVE ALL HAVE FUN! It sounds like you did have fu n writing your poem. I really enjoyed it. Thank you.
I like the encouragement to look and really see the world around us. Beautiful!
This is lovely, Margaret. The words flow so perfectly, and the images are indeed “alive with light.” Thank you for sharing!
This is one of the best found poems I’ve ever read! Kudos! Love the collage, too!!
Margaret, this one is going into my writer’s notebook. I love the way the words on the page are arranged in the collage. I’m trying to recreate that version for my notebook. I’m still floating on the high I received from meeting Linda and so many other cyber friends at All Write. It will be so fun for the two of you to meet someday.
I want to put All Write on my list. I can imagine what a high it would be to meet all my virtual friends. We would talk until midnight.
Thanks for your feedback on my work. I’d like to hear more about how you are using it in workshops.
I just looked back through your blog for your “Sometimes near the lake poem…” and couldn’t find it. I wanted to let you know that I used it for a ladies class that I taught at our church to encourage personal writing. I love the phrase – “shimmer of sparkling sun-kiss.”
wonderful! I adore a good found poem and this certainly fits the bill! I love that you found it all in one magazine!
[…] about the Bridgewater Fair, but have never been happy with the results. So this year, inspired by Margaret, I decided to create a found poem using White’s own words. Drawn from chapters XVI, XVII, […]