Join the Two Writing Teachers blog for the Slice of Life Challenge.
This long Labor Day weekend was just the time I needed to clean out. Usually it’s a summer chore, but this summer I traveled quite a bit, so I put it off. In a month, my daughter is getting married. We are hosting the rehearsal dinner at our house. I want things to look nice.
Obviously, no one will be looking in my drawers, but I’ll know they are neat and organized.
Cleaning out also leads to memories. I found this Thanku poem written by Kylon when he was in third grade. I think he’s in 8th grade this year.
I was thinking about the little gems and memories today when I wrote poetry with my students. We were discussing Naomi Shihab Nye’s poem Valentine for Ernest Mann and how poems can hide.
Note: Kylon wrote this poem, but Kieran was the boy who cried on the last day of school. Both were gifts in their own way.
Poems Hide
Sometimes when you aren’t even looking, you find them,
tucked into the junk drawer, sticking out,
saying, “Here I am; Read me aloud!”That’s where I found this poem.
I was looking for something else,
a roll of tape maybe,
but what I found was this gift
from that last day of school
when you cried into your mother’s lap
because you would never be in third grade again
with me,
with Mr. Pants, the class guinea pig,
or with that desk
that had become your sacred space.Things change, Kieran,
but memories live on,
Like poems
in the junk drawer.–Margaret Simon
Reflections on the Teche 
What great connections between cleaning out junk drawers, finding tributes, and writing new poems. Love it, Margaret. I also love that you will know your junk drawers are clean. 🙂
I used to wash my kitchen floor every Labor Day, during the Jerry Lewis Telethon, in anticipation of the first day of school. Your drawer organizing reminded me of that ritual, long-since abandoned!
So special!
“Memories live on like poems in the junk drawer.”
Beautiful!
I love the way you linked all three poems, Margaret. How wonderful that this poem popped out of hiding just in time for Tuesday’s Slice!
LOVE your poems! Thanks for sharing. You’re never too late!
WOW! You’re inspiring me to LOOK and see and listen. I’m inspired by your flexibility and openness to what IS there. We just need to “see” it!
What wonderful treasures we find among the “junk”.
I’m so glad you found this. What a treasure. Poems do hide. Makes me wonder about the unwritten ones too.
Margaret, I’m glad this poem took shape from a cleaning venture. Just realized that I do not have a poem from you for Summerscapes-perhaps, one from your trip to Africa or to Tara’s farm. I hope so.
So glad this poem appeared today and that you shared it with us. “Things change, but memories live on,” love these words.
I love that this find inspired you to write your own poem.
Your slice is inspiring me to clean out my hallway closet. I know there’s a bin full of letters. I’m sure they’ll feel like treasures once I get to them. (I keep pushing this off week after week.)
It’s a sweetest gift, the serendipity of discovery, Margaret. And you saved it all in your poem. Just great!
Poems are hiding everywhere, and you are a master at finding them. I think all teachers will be able to relate to the emotions in this sweet poem.
Poems in the junk drawer. I loooove this. My heart absolutely melted.
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