Mother Nature

March 14, 2014 by margaretsmn

Slice of Life Day 14. Join the Two Writing Teachers Slice of Life Challenge.

Join the Poetry Friday Round up at Rogue Anthropologist

Today, I am featuring a new and upcoming poet, Kaylie. She was my student for 3 years. This year she is in middle school, but she has joined the class as we participate in the Slice of Life Story Classroom Challenge. Her mother teaches across the hall from me. She came in one day earlier this week and said, “Thank you.” She told me that Kaylie has not been writing much at school this year, and she forgot how much she loves it. She now comes home every day and goes straight to the computer to write her Slice of the day. Kaylie is a poet. She has an amazing sense of language for her 13 years.

Now she has returned in spirit as a leader to the others. She is lifting lines and writing poems. In her slice yesterday, she wrote, “I don’t know why I am ADDICTED to writing lift a lines. I guess this is just a great way to make someone else feel good because you like their writing.” Kevin Hodgson has started something. He stopped by yesterday and left a poem response. And, yes, as Kaylie said, “It made me feel good.”

Wordle made by Kaylie

Her feelings come and go
As quickly as leaves fall
In the brisk autumn months.
Her spirit will always be with the earth.

If you are quiet, you can hear her heart thumping, thumping,
Dancing to the beat of the cicada song,
Steady and slow, on time
You can see her eyes, the stars

That glitter in the twilight,
Inconsistent as the moon.
She is restless,
In the ocean that crashes toward shore,

Always there, always churning
To the gull’s cry, to the burning sand,
She is present.

In the winter, her heart is cold as ice
Her heart thumps slow, quiet, soft
The snow falls, her whispers
Her secrets that we catch on our tongue
Only to be melted away.

In the spring, she is generous.
It is a time for life and rebirth,
She lets her children frolic among the daisies
In the sweet breeze she blows.
She is everywhere, she is invisible.
She is the Earth.

–Kaylie

See more of my students’ Slice of Life writing (Maybe even steal a line.): http://kidblog.org/SliceofLifeChallenge/

Posted in Poetry Friday, Slice of Life, Writing | Tagged gifted education, lift a line, poetry | 10 Comments

10 Responses

on March 14, 2014 at 6:24 pm | Reply Linda Baie

Wonderful, Margaret & thank you Kaylie. I’m sending this on to my colleague whose middle school age students are slicing this year. Maybe you can find some lines from their posts, & we’ll send them on to you too!
- on March 14, 2014 at 11:40 pm | Reply margaretsmn
  
  Kaylie has started a line lifting craze on our blog. What is your colleague’s blog site?
on March 14, 2014 at 6:56 pm | Reply joyacey

Durn, this brought tears to my eyes. I am very moved. What a blessing Kaylie is to the future of this world.
Thank you for everything you are doing to mentor her.
on March 14, 2014 at 8:40 pm | Reply Tara Smith

That was beautiful, Kaylie – so many lovely images to feast upon. And, thank you, Margaret!
on March 14, 2014 at 11:24 pm | Reply readingtothecore

Margaret, thank you for sharing Kaylie’s gorgeous poem. I especially love the imagery of spring!
- on March 14, 2014 at 11:39 pm | Reply margaretsmn
  
  This is so cool. I was commenting on your post at the same time you were on mine. I wrote a response poem about it. (Enter Twilight zone music here.)
on March 15, 2014 at 3:14 am | Reply Buffy Silverman

Wonderful images in this poem, Kaylie–I especially like the ocean that’s “always there, always churning to the gull’s cry, to the burning sand, she is present.”
And thanks for sharing this Margaret!
on March 15, 2014 at 6:00 pm | Reply Tabatha

Thanks for sharing Kaylie’s wonderful poem, Margaret! I especially like the stanza about winter. Great imagery!
on March 17, 2014 at 12:54 am | Reply Bridget Magee

Wow! Kaylies’ “amazing sense of language” is astounding. Thank you for featuring her poem, Margaret. = )
on March 26, 2014 at 10:32 am | Reply Call and Response | Reflections on the Teche

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